Covid: 'We need to keep up our guard against the B117 variant'

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has notified 25 additional deaths related to Covid-19.

Five deaths occurred in March, 13 occurred in February and six in occurred January or earlier. There is one death where the date of death is under investigation.

There has been a total of 4,357* COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland.

As of midnight on Tuesday the HPSC was notified of 566 new confirmed cases, bringing the total to 221,189.

Less than five cases each were reported in Counties Cavan and Monaghan.

Cavan's five-day moving average is down to just five, with a total of 115 confirmed cases over the past fortnight.

Monaghan's five-day moving average is also down to just five, with 117 new cases confirmed in the 14 days up to midnight on Tuesday.

Cavan's 14-day incidence rate of the virus now stands at 151 cases per 100,000 of population - well below the national average of 199.4.

Monaghan, which just a few weeks ago had the highest incidence rate nationally, now has a rate of 190.6/100K - slightly below the national average.

Of the other cases notified today:

280 are men and 284 are female.

68% are under 45 years of age.

the median age is 34 years old.

233 in Dublin, 37 in Kildare, 30 in Meath, 25 in Donegal, 24 in Westmeath and the remaining 217 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 8 a.m. today, 489 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised, 114 in ICU. There have been 29 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Numbers of people vaccinated

As of last Sunday there have been 439,782 doses of Covid-19 vaccine administered in Ireland.

297,899 people have received their first dose

141,883 people have received their second dose

Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said: "Through the hard work and sacrifice of the vast majority of people, key disease indicators continue on a positive trajectory.

"However, we are still seeing outbreaks in the community, including those linked to extended families, workplaces and funerals.

"We need to keep up our guard against the B117 variant of Covid-19, which we know is dominant in Ireland at present and highly transmissible.

"Our willingness to stick with the public health advice in our daily routine has brought us the progress that we can see today.

"Together, through staying at home as much as possible, social distancing, hand washing and wearing face coverings, we can continue to drive down the spread of Covid-19."