838 people are without a bed in Irish hospitals according to figures released by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
It's the second-highest figure recorded by the union since it started detailing figures since 2006.
Yesterday saw a record number of people on trolleys at 931 with University Hospital Limerick (UHL) being the worst affected facility nationwide.
Today, the INMO say UHL has the worst overcrowding again today with 76 people in the emergency department or on wards without a bed.
That's followed by Sligo University Hospital on 65.
In a statement, the General Secretary of the INMO Phil Ní Sheaghdha said, "We again repeat our call for the current approach of telling people just to avoid hospitals to cease.
"The focus should be on providing supplemented emergency supports until the end of February.
"It is time for the Government to call this what it clearly is - an out-and-out crisis. A crisis warrants an extraordinary response from Government and the HSE.
"When nurses who are at the frontline dealing directly with patients and often the ones apologising to patients and their families on behalf of the State because of the chaotic conditions are calling on the Government to take action including but not limited to the immediate cessation of all non-urgent activity and the introduction of a time-limited mask mandate, then it must not continue to fall on deaf ears."
