Waterford, Wexford, and Kilkenny are among the counties that have been worst hit by Covid and the flu last week.
That's according to the Irish Independent.
There has been a winter illness wave over the last few weeks and it is set to increase over Christmas.
New data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre has revealed the counties that are being affected the most.
The flu is most prevalent in Waterford, Donegal, Cork, and Galway.
There has been one death from the illness so far this year with cases expected to rise coming into the New Year.
Meanwhile, the fast-spreading new Covid variant, JN.1, has seen an increased surge in cases. This is likely due to indoor partying and catching up with friends during the festive period.
Figures indicate that Waterford, Wexford, and Kilkenny were among the counties worst hit by the virus last week.
Donegal, Sligo, Cavan, and Offaly also saw a surge in cases.
Separately, the spread of RSV, which mainly affects children, has been falling slightly.
There were 800 cases last week and 300 of those people require hospitalisation.
Effects on hospitals
The seasonal sickness has been putting increased pressure pressure on hospital emergency departments which often see a jump in attendances after Christmas anyhow.
Hospitals have been scaling down work on waiting lists in order to free up space in wards so patients will not have to wait on trolleys.
Yesterday, there were 214 patients on trolleys, 161 of which were in emergency departments.
At that time, 31 patients had been waiting for more than 24 hours for a bed. Two of them were over the age of 75.
246 patients from the emergency departments were put in beds that are normally used for people who are having a planned procedure.
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