LAST UPDATE | 17 Feb 2021

THERE WERE 813 patients with Covid-19 in hospitals across Ireland last night, as numbers continue to fall. 

The number of patients in an ICU is also falling, with 151 people in intensive care yesterday. 

St James’s Hospital in Dublin has the most number of patients with Covid-19 – with 98 people currently hospitalised. It’s followed by the Mater (73) and Connolly (71). Outside Dublin, Drogheda had the most number of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 at 48.

HSE CEO Paul Reid said on Twitter: “For the first day since we hit the peak of this wave, we’re now lower than the peak of the first wave, on hospitalisations & ICU.

“The downward slope out of this is proving to be much slower than we would all like. But good hope.”

Last evening, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) said that 33 further deaths had been reported in people with Covid-19 in Ireland, along with 744 new cases.

In a letter to Minister from Health Stephen Donnelly, deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said that the country “continues to experience a very concerning and fragile epidemiological situation. 

“Incidence is falling but remains high and is currently four times higher than in early December 2020 and 100 times higher than July 2020,” Dr Glynn said. 

“Our model projections show that if we can maintain a reproduction number between 0.5 and 0.9 for the coming weeks, we remain on track to have 200-400 cases per day by 1 March 2021, and 100-300 cases per day by 15 March 2021.”

Dr Glynn said that these projections are contingent on keeping transmission as low as possible for as long as possible. 

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These projections would see 500-600 people needing hospital care at the end of February, falling to 250-400 in mid-March.

He added that with the British variant now dominant in Ireland, the situation in Ireland remains fragile which “underscores the importance of maintaining the recent extraordinary efforts in order to fully suppress this disease in the coming weeks and months”. 

Separately, vaccinations continue today for people aged 85 and over after getting under way yesterday. 

GP Dr Sumi Dunne said yesterday: “The level of vaccine confidence and enthusiasm for vaccination in this group has been widely reported, along with a sense of relief as hope for a normal life returns.”