There have been a further 5,959 confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported by the Department of Health today.
As of this morning the number of people hospitalised with the virus has increased to 640 in Ireland.
Of these patients, 121 have been admitted to intensive care units for treatment.
A walk-in vaccination centre at St. Brigid’s in Ballinasloe has been open today for people aged 12 and over.
This comes as Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tony Holohan had urged the government not to subsidise the use of antigen tests, which are being adopted as a plank of the latest plans to manage this wave of COVID-19.
The CMO reportedly expressed concerns that people would misuse the tests, which are less accurate than the PCR tests that require a lab to process.
Of the more than 200,000 tests by appointment carried out in the past week, more than 15% are now coming back positive.
