No new deaths have been recorded, leaving the toll at 1,774 Covid-19 related deaths in the State.
Of the new cases, 35 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case while 12 cases have been identified as community transmission.
26 are located in Kildare, 13 in Dublin and the rest of the 17 cases are in Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Laois, Longford, Meath, Monaghan, Offaly, Westmeath and Wicklow.
79 per cent of the new cases are under 45 years of age, while 29 are men and 27 are women.
Meanwhile, there were 39 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Northern Ireland today, bringing the total number of cases there to 6,430.
There were no new deaths recorded in the North in the past 24 hours, with the death toll remaining at 558.
Weekend spike
The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) is meeting this evening to consider further recommendations for Government as tonight's figures follow a spike in cases in the Republic over the weekend, with 266 confirmed over the 48 hours of Saturday and Sunday.
Ireland’s 14-day incident rate of Covid-19 has risen to its highest level since May, with a rate of 22.3 cases per 100,000 for the two week period ending August 17th, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
The rate surpassed the UK's rate for the first time on August 9th and reported very similar rates throughout last week.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said public health officials are concerned about how Covid-19 is moving around the country, with every county having recorded a new case over the past two weeks.
There have been cases in a lot of different work places. Yes, there’s been a lot of focus on meat plants, but there’s been a mushroom farm, there’s been hairdressers, there’s been a GAA club, there’s been restaurants. It’s moving around the country in a way that is worrying them.
Minister Donnelly says cases are “popping up all around the country” in a way that is worrying NPHET: “In the last two weeks for example, there have been new cases in every single county.
“There have been cases in a lot of different work places. Yes, there’s been a lot of focus on meat plants, but there’s been a mushroom farm, there’s been hairdressers, there’s been a GAA club, there’s been restaurants. It’s moving around the country in a way that is worrying them.”
NPHET advises from a public health perspective, Government takes that advice and then has to make decisions with the entirety of the country in mind.
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The Minister has said that Government will make a decision on restrictions with the entire country in mind, once NPHET issues advice later today.
“Second waves of restrictions could have really devastating impacts across the country,” he said.
“NPHET advises from a public health perspective, Government takes that advice and then has to make decisions with the entirety of the country in mind.”
