The Department of Health has been notified of 613 new cases of Covid-19 and 35 additional deaths.
Twenty-one of the deaths reported today occurred in February, 12 in January and one in November. One death remains under investigation.
Of the cases recorded up to midnight, 308 were men, 304 were women and 66 per cent were under the age of 45.
Dublin accounted for 224 of today's cases, while there were 39 in Limerick, 37 in Meath, 34 in Westmeath and 33 in Offaly.
Deputy chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn said the country continues to make good progress, adding many of the key indicators of disease levels in communities are continuing to fall.
Ahead of the return of more students to school next week, Dr Glynn urged people to follow public health guidelines to ensure progress can be maintained.
At 8am this morning, there were 591 patients in hospital with Covid-19, of which 138 were in intensive care.
According to the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) 359,616 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have now been administered in the State - 226,291 first doses and 133,325 second doses.
Director of the National Immunisation Office, Dr Lucy Jessop said: “Many of us know family and friends who are among the almost 360,000 people to have been vaccinated in recent weeks. This is cause for great hope for all of us.”
“The vaccine is already having a significant impact on our healthcare workers. In the last week in January, almost 1,400 healthcare workers contracted Covid-19; that number was less than 300 last week. This is wonderful news and clearly demonstrates the early impact the vaccination programme is having.
“However, even if you have received your Covid-19 vaccine, you must continue to wash your hands, wear a face covering, maintain a social distance and keep your close contacts to a minimum," she said.
Mandatory quarantine
Elsewhere, the Dáil has voted in favour of new laws to allow for the enforcement of mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals from 20 high-risk countries.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly indicated the list of countries may be expanded on the advice of Nphet, with the Government able to add countries at its discretion.
Opposition parties attempted to amend the new laws in order to extend the two-week mandatory quarantine period to all passengers arriving into Ireland for non-essential reasons.
Yesterday, Mr Donnelly confirmed approximately 10,500 people arrived in Ireland through Dublin Airport last week, with between 1,000 and 3,500 people arriving in the country each day, he told the Dáil.
