The number of patients with Covid-19 in hospitals has fallen by more than 65 per cent in the past month.
There are now 475 people on wards receiving treatment, while there are 112 people with the disease in intensive care units.
The impact of the vaccination programme is being felt in the health service with a dramatic fall in infections among staff.
Waterford figures
There are 25 people being treated with Covid-19 at University Hospital Waterford (as of 8pm Tuesday night).
Four people were admitted with the virus in a 24 hour period. Three are being treated in ICU.
Of yesterday's 209 cases, seven were in Waterford.
The county's incidence rate of 179.9 is now below the national average of 201.2.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly told an Oireachtas committee on Tuesday that the HSE was seeing a 95 per cent reduction in the Covid-19 infection rate of hospital staff.
Mr Donnelly also said the large majority of over-85s would have received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by the end of this week.
HSE chief executive Paul Reid said there are “positive early signs” of the vaccine rollout taking effect, with the number of infections down among vulnerable groups and healthcare workers.
Reasons to be very hopeful. Hospital (475) & ICU (112) nbrs down again. Vaccines showing very positive early signs of effectiveness. Infections amongst the most vulnerable & healthcare workers hugely decreasing. More to go, so let's see this through now. #COVID19 @HSELive
— Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) March 3, 2021
Meanwhile, the number of Covid-19 cases reported on Tuesday night fell to the lowest level in more than 10 weeks.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) reported 359 new confirmed cases of the disease, along with a further 14 deaths of Covid-19 patients. This brings to 4,333 the total number of deaths in the pandemic.
