THE NUMBER OF patients being treated in Irish hospitals for Covid-19 rose slightly over the weekend, after reaching its lowest level since mid-December.

Data published on the HSE’s Daily Operations website shows that there were 223 coronavirus patients in hospital at 8pm last night, an increase from 200 at the same time on Friday.

However, the increase is in line with previous weeks as hospitals generally do not tend to discharge patients at weekends. 

The number of patients with Covid-19 being treated in the country’s intensive care units has also continued to fall.

There were 50 people with Covid-19 in intensive care units last night, a drop of one compared with Saturday morning. Of these, 29 were receiving ventilation care at 6.30pm last night.

It follows the publication of data by the Central Statistics Office last week which shows that the proportion of hospital cases of Covid-19 among over-65s has fallen from 18% in the week ending 29 January to 6% at the start of April.

Ahead of the easing of some Covid-19 restrictions today, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said that there were “many reasons for hope” heading into this week.

In a tweet sent last night, Glynn said that yesterday morning saw the lowest number of people newly hospitalised with Covid-19 since November.

However, he urged people to continue to adhere to restrictions, including working from home where possible, not meeting other households indoors, and to contact a GP if they showed symptoms of Covid-19.

“If we can can maintain our progress, vaccines and basic public health measures will be our way out of this pandemic,” he said.