THE NUMBER OF patients being treated in Irish hospitals for Covid-19 has risen, following a week of gradual decline in the figure.

Data published on the HSE’s Daily Operations website shows that there were 192 coronavirus patients in hospital at 8pm last night, a rise of 18 from 24 hours previously.

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

There were 50 people with Covid-19 in intensive care units last night, up from 48 on Wednesday evening. Of these, 26 were receiving ventilation care at 6.30pm last night.

The increase follows a fall in the number of Covid-19 patients treated in hospital in recent weeks, with the number falling to below 200 this week for the first time this year.

Health officials said last night that case numbers currently being reported “are better than anything we could have hoped for two weeks ago”.

Chair of the Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group Professor Philip Nolan said that an uplift in hospital admissions following Easter and St Patrick’s Day has not materialised – but warned that Ireland remained in a “high-risk” position.

Speaking this morning, Damien McCallion, the HSE’s head of the vaccine programme, also acknowledged that this week had been challenging for the rollout.

But he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that disruptions to the system were being managed week-by-week and that the health service was comfortable with the number of people aged 69 who signed-up to be vaccinated yesterday.