HSE CEO PAUL Reid has said he has “never found a stronger moment of hope” in Ireland’s fight against Covid-19 as hospital figures continue to fall across the country. 

Speaking on RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland programme, Reid suggested that the rollout of the vaccination programme had helped to break the link between daily case numbers and adverse effects of the virus.

His comments came as latest figures show there were 123 patients being treated for Covid-19 in Irish hospitals last night.

Of those, 36 patients were being treated in intensive care with 28 of those on ventilators.

“I certainly never found a stronger moment of hope and optimism that we can feel now,” Reid said.

“And it is grounded, not just on optimism, [but] based on evidence what we’re seeing: reduce hospitalisations, reduced ICU admissions, reduced mortality, all directly correlated to the vaccination programme and those who have been vaccinated.

“And for once, we seem to broken this strong correlation between daily cases and hospitalisations and mortality.”

However, he urged the public to remain cautious in the weeks ahead as the vaccination programme continues, saying Ireland did not want to “slip back on the gains we’ve had”.

Reid also confirmed that Ireland would receive 60,000 fewer doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine next week, but noted that the country’s vaccine programme was at “a really good point of momentum”.

“I think [that] gives the public great confidence and certainly reinforces many of the great hopes that you’ve seen,” he added.