[imagesource: AFP]

There are very few countries that have covered themselves in glory with regards to handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

Given how little we knew about the virus back in March, mistakes were bound to happen, but both in South Africa and abroad crucial missteps have led to where we are today.

Even an educated, wealthy country like Sweden has dropped the ball, and New Zealand is still having to take extreme measures to ensure that new strains don’t grab a foothold.

In Ireland, residents came out of a six-week lockdown in December with one of the lowest COVID-19 case levels in Europe, but that’s no longer the case.

In fact, reports CNN, the country recorded the highest infection rate in the world last week

In the seven days leading up to January 10, Ireland reported around 1,323 Covid-19 cases per one million people, the statistics showed, more than any other country over the same period.

On Friday, it recorded the highest daily increase in infections since the beginning of the pandemic with 8,248 new cases, according to a statement from the Irish health department.

Whilst this graph is a few days old, it paints a grim picture:

Image: CNN

A spokesperson for the prime minister, Micheál Martin, says a number of factors – the seasonality of the virus, the more transmissible UK variant, and households mixing over the festive season – all played a role in the surge.

Upwards of 40% of the country’s most recent COVID-19 cases were caused by the UK variant, which was first discovered in Ireland on Christmas Day.

According to the latest stats from Worldometer, Ireland has recorded 155 591 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 129 830 of which are considered active, with 2 397 deaths.

That’s pretty full-on for a population estimated to be around five million.

To compare, South Africa currently has 206 291 active cases.

The Independent with more on the scope of the problem:

The increased infections are heaping further pressure on hospitals already overun by the disease…

Professor Alan Irvine, president of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, told RTÉ’s News at One the situation is a “national emergency”.

The system “will not be able to cope” if infections continue to rise, he added.

Thankfully, in the last few days, the rate of infection seems to have slowed down, but the situation remains worrying.

You let your guard down, even just a bit, and this bloody virus comes roaring back.

[sources:cnn&independent]