Another 66 deaths and 1,078 cases of Covid-19 have been reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on Saturday.

Of the 66 deaths reported, 41 occurred this month, with eight in January, seven in December and nine in November or earlier.

The median age of those who died was 84, with the youngest Covid-19 related death aged 39 and the oldest being 98.

Hospital Report

To date there have been 3,931 deaths linked to the virus in the State, with a total of 208,796 confirmed cases.

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There were 898 Covid-19 patients in hospital as of 8am on Saturday, with 44 people hospitalised in the past 24 hours.

There were 171 Covid-19 patients in intensive care on Saturday, Nphet said.

Of the 1,078 new cases notified on Saturday, 523 are men and 549 are women. Some 70 per cent of the cases are among people aged under 45 years old, with 32 the median age.

Nearly half of the cases (433) are located in Dublin, followed by 139 in Galway, 52 in Limerick, and 43 in Mayo.

Self-isolate ‘immediately’

Dr Ronan Glynn, deputy chief medical officer, reiterated that anyone with Covid-19 symptoms should self-isolate "immediately" and contact their general practitioner to arrange a test.

“The best way to protect ourselves and our vulnerable loved ones from serious illness as a result of Covid-19 infection is to continue taking the actions we know can effectively suppress the virus,” he said.

Dr Glynn reminded people to maintain physical distance from others, avoid crowds, wear face coverings, and regularly wash their hands.

Meanwhile, the total number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has continued to fall, according to the latest figures from the Health Service Executive (HSE).

At 8pm on Friday there were 894 Covid-19 patients in acute hospitals, which was down from around 950 people the previous day.

This is a significant drop on the more than 1,220 patients who were hospitalised with the virus one week ago, and from the peak of 2,000 hospitalisations last month.

However, the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units has been slower to decline, figures show.

There were 178 Covid-19 patients in intensive care units last weekend, the majority of whom required ventilators. On Friday there were 169 patients in intensive care.

Health officials have cautioned there is a time lag between a spike in hospitalisations and admissions into intensive care, meaning any decrease of the numbers in intensive care will lag behind the fall in hospitalisations.

A total of 166,863 people have received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, and 89,818 of those have got the required second shot, according to the Government’s Covid-19 data hub.

A further 303 individuals have tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, Northern Ireland's Department of Health said on Saturday.

There were another 10 deaths reported, bringing the total number of deaths linked to the virus in the North to 1,985.

Frontline workers persevered

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the third wave had “pushed our frontline healthcare workers to the limit”, but that they had persevered.

“Over the next few months we must protect that hard won progress … as vaccines are rolled out, starting with our more vulnerable citizens. Now is not the time to drop our guard,” he said on Saturday.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said despite a recent fall in new cases, the virus is currently spreading at a rate similar to the peak of the second wave in October.

“Where we are now is not far off the peak of the second wave, so a long way to go yet, but very much going in the right direction,” he said in a video posted on Twitter on Friday.

“The number of people with Covid in hospital peaked at 900 during the first wave, 354 in the second, and 2,000 in this wave,” which he said was very severe.

“It’s now fallen down to around 950, down by more than half from peak, but still higher than the first wave, so it gives you an indication of the distance we have to travel before we can seriously contemplate easing restrictions,” he said.

Government sources have signalled Level 5 restrictions may not be eased until late April or early May, apart from the reopening of schools and the construction sector.