Positive signs on all fronts in fight against Covid-19

A high of around 8,000 Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered in one week at Ballybrit mass vaccination centre – marking its busiest seven days since opening.

Further light at the end of the pandemic tunnel appeared this week with confirmation that virus-related local hospitalisations are down to single figures – just one patient was in ICU in Galway’s public hospitals on Tuesday.

It comes as businesses such as gyms reopened on Monday, as did restaurants and bars for outdoor dining and drinking.

Traditional bars with outdoor capacity that have been closed since Christmas are hoping for fine weather ahead of their first official weekend of trade in over six months this Friday and Saturday night.

Met Éireann was predicting warm weather this weekend, with a chance of sunny spells.

The exact number of vaccines administered weekly in Galway fluctuates depending on supply but it has peaked at between 6,000 and 8,000 doses per week in recent weeks, according to the HSE.

By June 1, the vaccination centre at Galway Racecourse had surpassed the 50,000 milestone of doses administered to people from Galway and Roscommon.

And while statistics are scarce due to the cyberattack last month on the HSE, Frank Harburn, General Manager, Regional Vaccination Programme, said the roll-out in Galway is broadly on schedule.

“It’s going very, very well. We are moving at pace and we are moving in line with the national programme,” he said.

Read the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in all shops now – or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie