Covid-19 patient numbers in hospital and ICU fall for first time in two weeks

The number of Covid-19 patients in hospital and those requiring ICU care have both fallen in the past 24 hours. 

There were 936 Covid-19 patients in hospital this morning, a slight drop of 5 on the figure for the previous 24 hours. 

Figures had been growing steadily since December 25, when patients in hospital with Covid-19 stood at just 378.

The slight fall in numbers today is the first one in the past 13 days. 

The number of patients requiring ICU care also fell slightly, which stood at 84 this morning. 

That figure is down six on the previous day's total of 90.

The drop in both hospital and ICU numbers comes after the Department of Health was notified yesterday of 23,817 additional cases of Covid-19. That is the highest daily figure on record. 

However, despite the surge in Omicron numbers, the fact that ICU numbers are not steadily rising has been seen as a cause of optimism. 

Speaking yesterday, the Chief Executive of the Health Service Executive Paul Reid said that "there's no doubt that we're still in a very uncertain period of time in terms of the impact of Omicron from a HSE perspective".

Public health actions particularly through Christmas and the New Year have been insightful, he said, adding that there are "early strong indications" that the level of illness with the Omicron variant may not be as severe as the Delta variant.

He said that in terms of the impact that the Omicron variant is having on admissions to ICUs, "we haven't seen the severe impacts certainly to date" as seen in an equivalent period last year with the Delta variant.

"I qualify all of that level of optimism that we have to balance that in the level of reality that we still have and do have a system under extreme pressure," he added.

 Mr Reid said that there are comparisons to be made between this January and January 2021.

He said that in January 2021 there were about 2,020 people in hospital with Covid-19 and 220 in ICU with the virus, but all other health services were suspended.