Almost 20% of deaths in first quarter were from Covid-19

Cancer and circulatory disease were the biggest causes of death in Ireland in the first quarter of 2021. File photo: Pexels

Nearly a fifth of all deaths recorded in Ireland in the first three months of the year were due to Covid-19, official statistics suggest.

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) said that in the first quarter of 2021, there were 1,846 deaths due to the virus, accounting for more than 19% of the total.