We’re headed in the right direction.

As the number of patients battling Covid-19 in hospital continues to decrease, the Government is working on a new version of the ‘Living with Covid-19’ plan.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the new plan will be made public in the week starting Monday, February 22nd, outlining the next steps for exiting Level 5 restrictions in place since December 30th, 2020.

Reopening schools and construction sites remains the priority, with retail expected to reopen slowly beginning in April. Barbers and beauty salons are expected to remain closed beyond March 5th and no timeline has been given for the reopening of restaurants, pubs and hotels, gyms or leisure centres.

1,104 Covid-19 patients remain hospitalised

A further 68 deaths and 556 new cases or coronavirus were confirmed in the past 24 hours.

Of the latest cases, 163 were in Dublin, with 45 in Limerick, 38 in Galway, 34 in Cork, 29 in Waterford and the remaining 247 cases spread across 20 other counties.

While the decrease in cases is positive, 1,104 Covid-19 patients remain hospitalised, of which 182 are in ICU. There have been 54 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours, a number which Taoiseach Michéal Martin has described as “too high” for any decision to be made on a timeline for reopening the country.

Meanwhile, the first phase of Covid-19 vaccine rollouts is continuing across the country. As of February 6th, 236,996 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland: 152,652 people have received their first dose, while 84,344 people have received their second dose.

Frontline healthcare workers and people aged 65 years and older who live in long-term care facilities are currently in line for the jab and the next group to be vaccinated will be people aged 85 and older, likely to begin this month.