LATEST: Dramatic fall-off in Covid-19 rates in Naas area

The rate of Covid-19 in the Naas area has plummeted from nearly 1,000 cases a fortnight at the end of March to just under 200 last week.

The Naas Local Electoral Area (LEA), which has a population of almost 40,000 people, had consistently one of the highest Covid-19 incident rates in Ireland in the first three months of 2022.

For example, in the two-week period up to March 28, there was a total of 974 cases or almost 70 new cases per day in the region.

The incidence rate per 100,000 people was 2,489 — considerably higher than the then national average rate of 1,871 per 100,000.

However in the latest available data, there were just 189 cases in the two week period to April 25.

This represents a rate per 100,000 of population of 483 — a five-fold drop from the level in late March.

The dramatic fall-off can also be seen in the number of Covid-19 cases reported in the wards of Naas Hospital.

Just over a month ago on April 5, there were 61 patients with Covid-19 which saw the facility ranked ninth in the list of hospitals across the country with the highest numbers.

However, yesterday saw just four patients with the virus. In addition, there were no suspected cases of the virus.

Naas Hospital is now ranked at 23rd in the list.

Across other LEAs of Kildare, the rate of the disease is remaining low and in line with national trends.