New Covid cases are on the up

Ireland has been hit by 64 Eris ‘variant of interest’ instances

- ANITA MCSORLEY

HEALTH officials have confirmed Ireland is seeing "an increase in Covid infections".

It comes as the new Eris variant has been detected here, with 64 cases confirmed to date.

The World Health Organisation has classified Eris as a "variant of interest".

The new strain has not yet been listed as a "variant of concern".

It has become established in the US and the UK, where more than 800,000 people are thought to have been infected.

The North is said to be experiencing the fastest spread of the disease.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre said that Eris, a subvariant of Omicron, is more transmissible than previous circulating variants.

It added that there is no evidence that this strain makes the illness worse.