There were 99 people being treated for Covid-19 in Irish hospitals at 8pm last night, 10% fewer than the previous night and the lowest evening total since 24 September last year.
That is despite the number of daily confirmed cases of infection being 40% higher than it was at that time. HSE chief executive Paul Reid described it as a clear demonstration that the vaccination programme has broken the link from daily case numbers to sickness, hospitalisations, Intensive Care and mortality.
The protection from the vaccination programme is also reflected in the incidence of disease among those aged over 75 years, which is now back to levels not seen since last July despite overall daily case numbers running 20 times higher than they were back