70% of patients in Ireland have recovered from COVID-19 as of Saturday, health officials have revealed.
The Department of Health confirmed that 13,886 of confirmed patients have made a recovery – while 6% of those were in hospital care.
Commenting on these figures, Minister for Health Simon Harris said he was conscious that daily updates shared the total number of people in Ireland who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 since the start of the outbreak.
“Thankfully so many recover from this awful virus,” Minister Harris tweeted.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan confirmed that the 70% recovery rate was derived from the 12,222 Covid-19 cases in the community that have recovered and 1,164 cases that have been discharged from hospital up to Saturday 25th April.
20,253 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Ireland up to Wednesday 29th April. An additional 379 were announced on Wednesday evening, while the death toll stands at 1,190 COVID-19 related deaths.
The government has also announced a €5million funding package for 26 COVID-19 research and innovation projects. The projects will address key areas such as frontline healthcare, diagnostics, infection control, contact tracing, mental health, potential treatments, and management of the mitigation measures related to social distancing and isolation.