The number of Covid-19 patients in hospital has fallen to its lowest level since New Year's Day.
Last night, the figure fell to 528, Marking a decrease of almost 100 patients in the past week.
The number of patients at University Hospital Waterford has fallen by one-third since last week. There were 29 patients with the virus at the facility last night, down from 44 on Friday last week. There was one patient with Covid-19 in intensive care in Waterford last night, it peaked at 9 on the 2nd of February.
There are now 135 patients with the virus being treated in Intensive Care Units (ICUs), down from 221 at the height of the third wave.
However, the vice-president of the Intensive Care Society, Dr Alan Gaffney, says ICUs are still extremely busy.
"We are seeing a very slow decline in the number of Covid patients overall, but we still are seeing patients being admitted to ICU with Covid," he said.
"We are currently running at 100 per cent of our permanent, non-surge capacity and one out of every two patients in ICU is being treated for Covid," Dr Gaffney added.
One year on
This follows comments from the deputy chief medical officer, who said it will take time for the country to heal and recover from the impact of Covid-19.
This weekend marks one year since the first case of the virus was confirmed in the State.
Last night, 776 new cases were reported and 29 further deaths - bringing the death toll to 4,300. There were 9 new cases in Waterford.
A total of 218,251 cases have been confirmed in the Republic in the past year, and 4,300 deaths.
Dr Ronan Glynn says it has been a difficult year for everyone, particularly those who have lost loved ones.
"I'm sure it will take time for us to heal and recover from what we have gone through as a nation over the past year, but equally, I'm hopeful that we will look back and see that there were many positives in the response," Dr Glynn said.
"We have seen a phenomenal level of resilience from healthcare service, we have seen community solidarity, and we have seen collective buy-in to public health measures," he added.
