The number of patients in ICUs with Covid-19 is down 70% from its peak and to its lowest number since January 2.
There are 64 people in intensive care units with the disease this morning, down two from last night.
It's the lowest figure since the start of the year, when there were 56 people in ICUs, and a dramatic fall from the 221 patient peak in the same month.
The number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals has also dropped 85% overall since January, when there were 2,020 patients admitted. There are now 304 confirmed cases in hospitals.
Health Service Executive (HSE) CEO Paul Reid also said he was “thankful” to see a decline in new admissions compared to January of this year.
But while these figures are welcomed by many frontline healthcare workers, Mr Reid urged caution, stating that the decline was happening “slower than we would all like” as Dublin remains the county with the highest incidence rate of new confirmed cases.
Last night’s figures revealed 222 new cases of COVID-19 were in Dublin, 44 in Kildare, 33 in Offaly, 31 in Meath, 29 in Westmeath and the remaining 225 cases are spread across 19 other counties.
In a tweet this morning, Mr Reid said: “We all want this trend to continue down and avoid the tide turning against us again.”
Gardaí have warned people that they will continue high visibility patrols at public amenities, parks and beauty spots across the country this weekend, after they issued over 12,000 fined for non-essential travel earlier in week (March 25) and over 2,700 for organising house parties to date.
This brings the total number of Covid-19 related fines to approximately 16,834 issued by An Garda Síochana.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said that the “vast majority of people are making a huge sacrifice and missing time with loved ones in order for us to stay on course with the public health guidance”.
