Hospitalised coronavirus patients at lowest point since pandemic began
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Hospitalised coronavirus patients at lowest point since pandemic began

THE NUMBER of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 in Ireland is at its lowest point since the pandemic began.

In what is a promising milestone in Ireland's battle against coronavirus, the number of patients in hospitals across the country has dropped to 12-- an incredible 99% reduction compared with the figures seen at the height of the pandemic.

In April, when the virus was at its peak in Ireland, there were 865 people in hospital with the virus, and the number has steadily been declining since,

22 hospitals across the country are not treating a single case and are effectively Covid-free, according to The Irish Mirror.

While the news is a huge step forward towards eradicating the disease, there has been some concern that the number of daily confirmed cases are on the rise.

The number of new cases had been below 20 for several weeks, and there were a number of days where new cases were in single digits, but yesterday's figures saw 24 new cases diagnosed in a 24 hour period.

People have been urged to download the new Covid-19 track and trace app, which was officially launched yesterday, in order to more efficiently trace close contacts of confirmed cases.

Speaking yesterday, Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said there had been half a million downloads of the app in just a few hours.

"This is one more example of the solidarity and collective spirit that has characterised the Irish public’s response to COVID-19 to date," he said.

"The app is an important tool to support our contact tracing systems. It has the potential to reduce the time that people are active in the community with infection, which will have a significant impact on the transmission of the disease.

"The more people who download and use this app, the more effective it will be. It is a further opportunity for us to play our part in the response to COVID-19."

You can download the track and trace app here.