THE NUMBER OF people in hospital with Covid-19 across the country has dropped to 220.

Data on the HSE Daily Operations website shows that there was a significant decrease in the number of Covid-19 patients being treated in hospital over the course of yesterday, falling from 261 at 8am to 220 at 8pm last night.

The figure is similar to trends seen last week, when the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital falling to levels not seen since before Christmas.

The data shows that the majority of hospital cases continue to be in Dublin.

The highest number of patients are in the Mater Hospital (27 patients), followed by Beaumont Hospital (24), Tallaght Hospital (23) St James’s (21) and Connolly Hospital (18).

The number of patients with Covid-19 being treated in the country’s intensive care units rose slightly yesterday.

As of 6.30pm last night, there were 58 people with Covid-19 in intensive care units, a rise of three from 24 hours previously. Of these, 37 are receiving ventilation care.

It comes as the testing positivity rate in Ireland’s nursing homes has fallen to its lowest level since the beginning of serial testing last year.

Last night, HSE CEO Paul Reid tweeted that the latest round of serial testing showed that 0.07% people out of 16,100 had tested positive.

“Really good news on how the vaccines are protecting the most vulnerable in nursing homes,” he said.

The number of vaccine doses administered in the state is set to pass the one million mark this week.