The Chief Medical Officer says we can consider lifting some restrictions if Covid-19 cases drop below 500 a day later this month.
Dr Tony Holohan says the Republic is the fastest improving country in Europe at the moment.
1,047 new cases were confirmed yesterday, along with 35 additional deaths.
18 of the new cases were in Carlow, while Kilkenny had 13.
Dr Holohan says more improvement is needed if Level 5 restrictions are to be eased on March 5th.
“If we’re to get to something in the region of a few hundred cases, say to get down into the hundreds from where we are now, we’re going to have to keep up this level of compliance” he claims. “The R number appears to be stable and really low, which is great, but we need to keep it down at that low level all the way through to the end of February. If we can get to levels of infection that are less than 500 cases a day, we can start to consider where we go from the 5th of March.”
Meanwhile, there are 1,196 people hospitalised with Covid-19 nationwide this morning, including 177 in intensive care.
That’s 43% fewer people than on January 18th.
In the local St Luke’s Hospital, 18 patients are being treated for the virus, with 3 of those in ICU.
The general hospital for Carlow and Kilkenny has just one critical care bed available according to latest figures, while there are no general beds left.
