Social distancing is the key to Ireland’s declining Covid-19 numbers.

Speaking last night, Acting Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn praised the efforts of the Irish public, as officials confirmed the number of daily Covid-19 infections has now dropped to its lowest rate in four months.

A further 269 cases of coronavirus have been reported in the past 24 hours, with one death from the disease.

This morning, HSE chief Paul Reid confirmed that coronavirus hospitalisations are now down to 179 from a peak of over 2,000, with 46 in ICU.

The most important target of the vaccination programme is reducing sickness, hospitalisations, ICU & mortality. Thankfully our #COVID19 hospitalisations are now down to 179 from a peak of over 2,000 & ICU down to 46. Let’s not loose sight of the ultimate aim. @HSELive

— Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) April 19, 2021

“We have already seen the fantastic impact of vaccination amongst our healthcare workers and in our nursing homes,” said Dr Glynn.

“However, the declining incidence across all age groups in recent weeks cannot be attributed to vaccination but rather to the enormous efforts of people across society to keep themselves and their families safe.”

“If we can keep incidence relatively low over the coming weeks, vaccination will increasingly play a role in suppressing this virus. This will make it easier for all of us to balance the risks associated with COVID-19 while gradually easing public health measures.”

Dr Glynn urged the public to continue to observe social distancing rules, wear a mask in public places and avoid mixing indoors with other households.

As of last Friday, April 16th there have been 1,188,354 doses of Covid-19 vaccine administered in Ireland: 838,644 people have received their first dose and 349,710 people have received their second dose.