There have been 46 further deaths and 3,086 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed in the Republic.
Two of the deaths reported on Tuesday occurred in December 2020, while the remaining 44 occurred in January 2021.
Of the cases notified today, 54 per cent are under 45 years of age. 604 cases are located in Galway, 574 in Dublin, 466 in Mayo, 187 in Cork, 138 in Limerick and the remaining 1,117 cases are spread across all other counties.
The country's chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, said the high number of deaths was “unfortunately” set to continue.
“Unfortunately this evening we are seeing the effect of the recent surge of infections reflected in the increased mortality we are reporting,” he said.
“Due to the unsustainably high level of Covid-19 infection we have experienced as a country over the past few weeks, sadly these figures are likely to continue for the next period of time.
“What we can do today, out of respect of those who have lost their lives and those currently in hospital or ICU - and those caring for them - is to hold firm and stay home.”
Under 65 hospitalisations
Deputy chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, warned that more than a third of patients admitted to hospital with Covid-19 were under the age of 65.
“At least one in three patients admitted to hospital or critical care in January have been under the age of 65 years,” he said.
“This clearly demonstrates that Covid-19 affects us all, regardless of age or underlying condition. It highlights the need for us all to protect one another by staying at home.”
171,710 Covid-19 tests have been carried out in the State over the past seven days, with a 19.1 per cent positivity rate.
Close to 5,000 cases reported on Monday pushed the total number confirmed in the Republic over the 150,000 mark — just eight days after the 100,000 case mark was exceeded.
A record 158 people with the virus are currently being treated in intensive care, while 1,692 people are in hospital. 128 additional hospitalisations have been seen over the past 24 hours.
With the number of those hospitalised now exceeding those seen during the first wave of the virus, HSE chief Paul Reid has urged people to stay at home in an effort to stop the health service becoming overwhelmed.
With just 30 adult ICU beds available nationwide, surge plans are expected to be activated in the coming days to deal with the unprecedented rise in hospital admissions.
This involves thousands of health service staff being redeployed and a deal allowing the use of private hospital capacity being triggered.
Officials have warned that up to 2,500 virus patients could potentially require a hospital bed within the next two weeks, and 400 may require intensive care (ICU) treatment.
Intensive care staff in West Cork may soon have to "ration" care among those who have the best chance of survival.
Despite signs that case numbers have stabilised, the health service is expected to come under intense pressure for the next week or two as hospitalisations and ICU admissions lag behind.
The World Health Organisation said on Tuesday that the record surge in cases in Ireland was due to increased social mixing over the Christmas period and was not caused by a new variant from Britain.
Up to 700,000 people in the State should be vaccinated against Covid-19 by the end of March if, as expected, the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab is approved by the European medicines regulator, the Minister for Health has said.
