Covid-19: Number of hospitalisated patients stable in February

The number of patients with Covid-19 in intensive care has dropped below 50 this weekend for the first time since last August.

There were 48 patients with Covid-19 in ICU on Sunday morning, down from 49 on Saturday and 52 on Friday.

The number of hospitalised patients with the virus increased to 603 on Sunday, up 20 in a day, but has generally been stable for the month of February.

Four deaths of Covid-19 patients were reported last week, compared to 11 the week before, according to the Department of Health.

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There was one child with Covid-19 occupying a paediatric ICU bed on Saturday, the HSE said. Beaumont, with 57 virus patients and the Mater hospital, with 54, had the highest number of Covid-19 patients.

On Monday, almost two years to the day since the first case was reported in the Republic in February 29th, 2020, most of the remaining pandemic measures are being discontinued.

The mask requirement is schools ends, as does physical distancing measures in schools, such as pods and staggered breaks. Testing and tracing is being scaled back.

PCR tests is henceforth only recommended for certain symptomatic people, including those aged over 55, those with a high-risk medical condition and those who are immunocompromised.

For everyone else, the public health advice is still to self-isolate until 48 hours after symptoms resolve, with no PCR requirement.

Close contacts with no symptoms no longer need a test, unless they are a healthcare worker who is a household close contact.

There is no change to the measures governing international travel, including the requirement for a digital Covid certificate.