THE PROPORTION OF daily cases among healthcare workers and the over-65s has dramatically fallen as the vaccine programme is rolled out, new research shows.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that the percentage of cases among over-65s fell from 18% in January to 9% in March.

The research also shows that the lowest number of cases was recorded among healthcare workers since last August, at 88 cases.

The CSO uses epidemiological dates for cases and actual date of death, not the reported dates, which gives a clearer indication of when infections and deaths take place.

One of the trends identified by the CSO is that while the number of cases has plateaued as Ireland emerges from the third wave of the pandemic, the composition of these cases has changed considerably.

Research shows that in the week ending 29 January, 18% of the positive cases in that week were among those aged 65 or over.

In the week ending March 19, the proportion of cases attributable to the over-65s had fallen to 9%.

A similar fall can be seen in the incidence of Covid-19 among healthcare workers, from 1,253 cases in the week ending 29 January, to just 88 cases in the week ending 19 March 2021.

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The impact of this change in composition can be seen in decreases in hospital and ICU admissions and in deaths related to Covid-19.

Last week, 38 deaths were recorded among confirmed Covid-19 cases.

Some 87% of deaths were in people aged 65 years and over.