This morning’s Irish Independent has released details on the counties with the highest Covid-related death rates since the start of the pandemic.

Mayo and Roscommon are among the counties with the highest death rate.

Yesterday marked the fourth anniversary of the start of the Covid pandemic.

Outbreaks of the virus in nursing homes were linked to the greatest amount of the total 9,358 Covid-related deaths in Ireland.

The rate of deaths fell substantially last year, as the number of notified fatalities stood at 920.

This compares to over double that the previous year in 2022, with 2,162 Covid-related deaths recorded.

Mayo, Louth, Cavan, Monaghan, Roscommon and Kildare have been revealed as the counties with the highest death rate in relation to the virus since March 11 2020.

The counties with the lowest rate of Covid deaths per 100,000 population were Sligo, Galway, Longford, Wicklow, Kerry, Meath and Cork, today’s paper shows.

Later this year, a Covid inquiry will be held to examine how Ireland performed in key areas in the pandemic.

The aim of this will be to learn lessons rather than to resort to the ‘blame game’ according to the Government.