Nursing homes and hospitals nationwide continued to be hit the hardest by new Covid-19 cases, the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) figures show from week 40 to 43, the first three weeks of October.

Higher levels of the Covid-19 virus have been found in wastewater in recent weeks

There are around 58,000 cases of Chickenpox each year in Ireland.

A HSE risk assessment warned of a high risk of measles spreading in asylum seeker accommodation and direct provision centres as uptake for the vaccine across Ireland was described as “suboptimal”

Measles is a highly contagious disease, which is spread by coughs and sneezes and can be serious at any age.