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Almost 15,000 people tested positive for Covid-19 over the Easter break, according to the Department of Health.
Between Friday and Tuesday, 6,752 cases confirmed by PCR tests were notified to the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, the Department said.
A further 7,734 people registered a positive antigen test through the HSE online portal between last Thursday and Monday, it added.
Overall, the number of cases continues to fall, with fewer than 1,000 PCR-confirmed infections notified on Tuesday and Sunday, the lowest daily figures for several months.
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The total number of positive PCR tests since the start of the pandemic passed the 1.5 million mark over the Easter weekend; the exact figure has yet to be updated.
Nursing homes continue to be heavily affected, with 56 new outbreaks last week, down from 60 the week before, according to the HPSC. The number of cases associated with these outbreaks was 473, and the largest single new outbreak involved 33 cases.
The number of nursing homes with active outbreaks has fallen from a high of 122 earlier in the spring to 52 last week.
In the current wave, since last December, 164 nursing home residents have died with Covid-19 in a nursing home or community hospital. Their median age was 87 years.
The number of patients in hospital with Covid-19 edged up over the holiday, from 735 on Saturday to 750 on Tuesday, but is expected to continue falling as this week progresses.
There were 44 confirmed cases with Covid-19 in intensive care on Tuesday, the lowest figure since March 16th.
The positivity rate for PCR tests also continues to fall to 22.7 per cent on Tuesday, down from almost 46 per cent in late March.
On Monday, University Hospital Limerick and University Hospital Waterford had the highest number of Covid-19 patients, at 57 and 56 respectively.
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