100,000 people should be vaccinated this week, says HSE chief

In the past 24 hours, there have been 32 admissions to and nine discharges from hospitals.

The director-general of the HSE Paul Reid has said that up to one million people per month could be vaccinated in Quarter Two if the quantities that have been ordered arrive into the country on time.

“Once we get supply, we will deliver and administer it,” he told Newstalk Breakfast.

"It was projected that 1.24 million people would be vaccinated in Quarter One and this would be scaled up in Quarter Two to 3.8million," he said.

"Last week 80,000 had been vaccinated and 100,000 should be vaccinated this week," he added.

Meanwhile, there are 726 people with Covid-19 receiving treatment in hospitals this morning.

It marks a 2% drop on yesterday's numbers, while it is a 20% fall on last Monday.

In the past 24 hours, there have been 32 admissions to and nine discharges from hospitals.

Last night there were 151 people in ICUs, with 105 of those on ventilators.

In terms of available beds in Irish hospitals, there are 513 general beds available as of 8pm last night, and 35 critical care beds.

Mr Reid acknowledged that the fall in the number of Covid cases had plateaued, but good progress continued.

"The arrival of variants was a cause for concern," he said.

“We are making progress and we have to keep up the effort.”