Covid-19: 92 deaths in past week as hospitalisations continue to fall

The number of Covid-19 cases, hospitalisations and patients in ICU is continuing to improve, despite the recent reopening of society almost two weeks ago, official figures show.

On January 21st, the Government announced the lifting of almost all public health restrictions, with the exception of mask wearing in retail premises, public transport and schools, and the Covid pass for international travel.

Despite this change, the epidemiological situation remains broadly positive, according to the Government’s own Covid-19 figures.

The number of PCR-confirmed case numbers can fluctuate day to day, but the overall picture suggests a gradual decrease in figures.

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On Wednesday, the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) reported a total of 5,940 new cases confirmed by PCR test. An additional 6,620 cases were recorded by positive antigen tests on Tuesday.

In the last seven days, 92 further deaths related to Covid-19 have been notified in the State. The total confirmed number of deaths here now stands at 6,228 since the pandemic began.

Also on Wednesday, as of 8am that day, there were 630 patients in hospital with the virus. Of those, 65 were in ICU.

Positive outlook

On January 31st, there were 3,872 PCR-confirmed cases reported by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), down from 4,400 on January 30th, 5,091 on January 29th and 5,109 on January 28th.

The number of people with Covid-19 in hospital was 629 on Wednesday morning, down from 657 on Tuesday morning, and 651 on Monday morning.

In terms of ICU, there were 65 patients with Covid-19 receiving intensive care as of 11:30am on Wednesday morning, a decrease of one when compared to the same time on Tuesday.

On January 31st, there were 75 Covid patients in ICU, and 74 in ICU on January 30th.

Speaking to politicians on Wednesday, the State's Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said "the epidemiological profile of Covid-19 nationally provides a broadly positive outlook".

He said incidence of the disease remains high, but has reduced from its peak and that Covid-19 related mortality remains relatively stable at this point.

“The number of confirmed cases in hospital has also decreased, with the average number of newly confirmed cases in hospital also reducing,” he said.

“The total number of confirmed cases in ICU, daily admissions and cases requiring mechanical ventilation have decreased. And the number of patients in need of advanced respiratory support in hospital settings, outside of ICU, has also reduced.”

Dr Holohan said the evidence in relation to the Omicron variant indicates “that the burden of severe health outcomes appear reduced compared to previous waves of infection with other variants”.

“We are in this much improved situation as a result of the population’s engagement with the vaccination programme, and the booster programme in particular, and the adherence to the public health measures,” he said.

However, he said Omicron, which fuelled the surge in cases after Christmas, is unlikely to be the last variant of concern to emerge and that “the global public health risk remains very high”.

“Therefore, we must remain vigilant and ensure that our response is agile and flexible, with an ability to respond rapidly and appropriately to any emerging threat,” he added.