By Cate McCurry, PA
The proportion of daily coronavirus cases among those over the age of 65 dropped to 6 per cent last week, new figures show.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that the percentage of cases among over-65s fell from 18 per cent in January to 6 per cent in April.
The research provides an analysis of those who have either died from or contracted Covid-19.
It shows there were 71 health care workers diagnosed with the virus, the lowest weekly figure since the week ending August 21st last year.
The figures reveal there were 29 deaths recorded among confirmed Covid-19 cases last week.
Some 86 per cent of deaths were in people aged 65 years and over.
There were 16 deaths in Dublin, with no other counties recording more than five deaths in the week.
There were 3,010 cases reported last week, a decrease of 21 per cent from the previous week.
Those aged 25 to 44 made up 34 per cent of confirmed cases.
Dublin accounted for over two fifths of all new cases and it was the second week in a row that weekly cases in Dublin have fallen.
Kildare was the county with the second highest number of new cases at 176.
The number of people admitted to hospital has been decreasing since the peak of 1,391 in the week ending January 15th, to 103 admissions last week.
ICU admissions have also decreased from the peak of 133 in the week ending January 8th, to less than five last week.
The average number of contacts per positive case per week was three, which implies details of more than 9,000 close contacts were recorded in the week.
Dublin and Offaly were the counties with the highest average number of contacts per positive case at four.
In the last four weeks 4,930 cases have been linked to an outbreak.
The under 24 age group made up 41 per cent of all cases linked to an outbreak over this period.
There were 1,798 cases (36 per cent) linked to an outbreak in private houses and 585 cases (12 per cent) linked to an outbreak in the workplace in the last four weeks.
Also 122 (2 per cent) cases were in a nursing home, 280 (6 per cent) were in hospital or a community hospital/long-stay unit and 216 (4 per cent) were in residential institutions.
There were 95,790 referrals for community testing where a valid reservation was recorded during the last week.
Referrals for testing increased in the last week and there was an increase, from 28,454 to 35,891, in referrals among the 25 to 44 age group.
#COVID19 vaccines are already bringing hope to our communities. The Galway Racecourse vaccination centre staff are working hard to continue the rollout of the vaccine. Watch our video to learn more about the staff in this centre. #OurHealthService pic.twitter.com/QaSDH74W2W
— HSE Ireland (@HSELive) April 9, 2021
Some 60 per cent of referrals were from GPs which is a decrease from 79 per cent in the week ending January 1st.
Analysis on referral speciality type shows that general Covid-19 testing has increased by 6,152 and healthcare and essential worker testing has increased by 7,563.
Weekly testing numbers from HSE labs and hospitals show there were 128,935 tests completed last week.
The positivity rate during the week was 3.2 per cent, down from 3.7 per cent the previous week.
