Leitrim sees largest drop in Covid-19 cases in the country

A paramedic beside an ambulance at the Mater Hospital in Dublin, during Ireland’s third coronavirus lockdown (Niall Carson/PA)

Leitrim has seen the largest drop in confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country, down 82%, new figures show.

Research by the Central Statistics Office shows the Wild Rose county recorded the largest drop of any county between February 26 and March 5 this year.

The week ending March 5 marked the eighth week in a row that Leitrim recorded fewer than 50 cases.

The number of new cases has fallen nationally by 31%, although this varies across counties from an 82% decrease in Leitrim to a 7% increase in Wicklow, the only county to record an increase.

Donegal saw the second largest drop at 63%, with Galway close behind in third with 62%.

This is the sixth week in a row that Roscommon has recorded less than 50 new cases and the fourth such week for Sligo.

For the week ending March 5, the number of weekly cases was 2,843, a decrease of 31% from the previous week.

Those aged 25-44 made up 33% of confirmed cases that week, with those aged 65 and above making up 9%.

There were 114 health care workers diagnosed in the same week, the lowest weekly figure since the week ending August 28.

With 1,272, Dublin accounted for almost a half of all new cases and it was the ninth week in a row that weekly cases in the capital have fallen.

Meath was the county with the second highest number of new cases, with 158.

Hospital admissions have been steadily decreasing too.

Having hit a peak of 1,376 in the week ending January 15, they have now plummeted to 173 in the meek ending March 5.

Admissions to intensive care units continue to trend downwards as well, from a peak of 130 in the week ending January 8 to less than five in the most recent figures.

The number of Covid-19 related deaths has also fallen sharply in recent weeks.

At the peak of the third wave, 399 deaths were record in the week ending January 22.

That has fallen to 51 deaths in the week ending March 5.

Only three counties recorded five or more Covid-19 related deaths in the last week - Dublin (11) Cork (6) and Donegal (5).

The virus continues to affect the elderly most severely, with 86% of deaths among people aged 65 years and over.

There were a total of 4,405 deaths linked to the virus that were recorded in the most recent figures.

Of these, 4,154 were listed as confirmed cases, with 251 deemed probable cases.

There have been just 15 deaths officially recorded among health care workers, but a further 487 are categorised as “unknown”.