The number of people battling Covid-19 in the hospital is decreasing steadily.

A total of 172 Covid-19 patients are currently receiving hospital care for coronavirus, down seven on the day before, with 47 in ICU.

Nine new cases of Covid-19 were reported in Cork in the past 24 hours, with 390 new cases nationwide. 67% of patients are under 45 years of age, while the median age is 34 years old. Of the new cases, 215 are men and 174 are women.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has been informed of 11 additional deaths among people with Covid-19 in Ireland, four of which occurred in April, two in March, four in February and one in January.

HSE chief Paul Reid said there is now a far lower number of people in the hospital than were in ICU alone in January when it was at 219 in ICU and 2,020 on wards.

We’re down to 179 #COVID19 patients in hospital. Now a far lower number of people in total in hospital than we did in ICU alone in January when it was at 219 in ICU & 2,020 in hospital. Vaccines are helping. Let’s protect this progress & we’ll get to a much better place @hselive

— Paul Reid (@paulreiddublin) April 20, 2021

Meanwhile, people aged 65-69 will begin to receive the first dose of the vaccine this week.

As of last Sunday, there have been 1,208,459 doses of Covid-19 vaccine administered in Ireland: 855,512 people have received their first dose and 352,947 people have received their second dose.