There has been a major reduction in the number of people on trolleys since the Covid-19 outbreak began here.

Chief operations officer at the Health Service Executive (HSE) Anne O’Connor said: “In terms of our trolley count – that has dropped away considerably.

“In Galway, for instance, we had just one patient waiting on a trolley.”

“The trolley count is lower than we have ever seen in quite some time. Our hospital attendances and admissions are way down this week.

“There are just 57 patients waiting on trolleys today – that is a very, very different number compared to what we are used to during the winter period.”

There has been an 86% drop in the number of people waiting on hospital trolleys in the past two weeks.

INMO figures show 467 were waiting this day a fortnight ago when the coronavirus outbreak began here.

There were 64 patients waiting for beds this morning, according to today’s INMO Trolley Watch.

Meanwhile, the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation Annual Delegates Conference due to be held from May 6-8 in Sligo has been postponed.

It will take place from October 7-9 instead at Rosses Point in the county.