THE NUMBER of Covid-19 patients in Irish hospitals has dropped by 85% since January.
Figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that as of Sunday, there are just 306 coronavirus patients currently in hospital, down from 2,020 patients at the peak of the second wave.
The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care has also dropped dramatically over the past two months.
There are currently just 67 Covid patients in ICU, compared with 221 during January's peak, representing 70% reduction.
Health Service Executive (HSE) chief Paul Reid said was "thankful" to see such an impressive decline in figures, but urged caution, pointing out that the decline was "slower than we would all like."
In a tweet on Saturday morning, Mr Reid said: "We all want this trend to continue down and avoid the tide turning against us again."
Ireland's vaccination programme is beginning to kick into gear after weeks of supply issues and delivery delays.
As of Friday, 567,000 people had received at one dose of the vaccine, while 219,000 had been fully vaccinated.
Steady progress is being made but Government is still taking a cautious approach to reopening the country.
Cabinet met with NPHET today to discuss a potential relaxing of restrictions on April, and an announcement is due tomorrow on their decision.
It's expected that the 5km travel limit will be lifted, but very little else is set to change.
Lockdown itself is expected to run for another six to eight weeks in Ireland.
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