984 new Covid-19 cases with 31 deaths in last week

It is the second time since July that the daily case total has fallen below 1,000. File picture: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Health officials have confirmed that there have been 31 deaths related to Covid-19 in the last week.

They also confirmed a further 984 cases of the virus have been recorded.

It is the second time since July that the daily case total has fallen below 1,000. On July 15, 994 cases of the virus were recorded. 

The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has fallen, from 349 on Tuesday to 343 today. However, the number of people in intensive care has increased to 70 - up five from yesterday.

According to the Department of Health, there has been a total of 5,280 deaths related to Covid-19 notified in Ireland.

As of October 5, more than 7.2m vaccines have been administered and 87.44% of the eligible population has been fully vaccinated.

Meanwhile, a report has found that there were 17% fewer emergency surgeries and 30% fewer elective surgeries performed during the pandemic.

The RCSI National Clinical Programme in Surgery (NCPS) published an analysis of the impact Covid-19 had on surgical activity.

It found the most significant reduction in surgical discharges occurred in April and May 2020, dropping to 34.7% of 2019 average monthly volumes.