There have been nine further deaths and 1,546 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the Republic this evening.
The figures bring the total number of new cases confirmed on the island on Tuesday to above 3,000, as a further 14 deaths and 1,566 cases of the disease were reported in Northern Ireland.
Of the cases notified this evening, 66 per cent are under 45 years of age with a median age of 34 years old.
There are 444 cases located in Dublin, 203 in Cork, 111 in Louth, 87 in Limerick, 85 in Donegal and the remaining 616 cases are spread across all other counties.
The number of people hospitalised with the virus has soared to new highs in recent days, surpassing the number admitted during the second wave of the virus experienced earlier in autumn.
On Tuesday, the number of people hospitalised in the Republic rose above 400 for the first time since May, with 411 people hospitalised and 34 in intensive care as of 2pm.
Amid this sharp increase from the 360 hospitalisations reported on Monday, the Cabinet is set to hold an unscheduled meeting on Wednesday to decide whether to implement a full “March-style” lockdown to control the “exponential growth” in cases.
Ireland’s chief medical officer has expressed concern at the continued rise of case numbers and hospitalisations, saying Covid-related indicators have increased despite fewer people turning out for testing over the Christmas period.
Dr Tony Holohan had recently warned there are higher levels of Covid-19 circulating in the community than recent case numbers reflect, due to the lower volume of tests being carried out over Christmas.
A further rise in cases is expected in the coming days, with GPs noting a 65 per cent increase in referrals for Covid-19 tests in the past week.
Coming week
About 25,000 referrals made during the first week of December had risen to 70,000 by the fourth week, according to the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP).
“We’re going to see the impact of socialising pre-Christmas and over the Christmas period. That’s going to affect the numbers in the next week to 10 days,” ICGP Covid lead, Dr Nuala O’Connor said.
The chief of the HSE had said he expected Tuesday’s case figures to be double those of the day before, as 765 new cases were confirmed Monday night.
Paul Reid said an increasing number of people were not answering calls from Covid-19 contact-tracers in a “concerning trend”.
It comes as the first shot of a vaccine to protect against the disease was administered in the Republic this afternoon, marking a new milestone in the pandemic.
Ireland may be able to provide a Covid-19 vaccine to everyone in the country who wants one by August in a "fairly positive scenario", a senior official tasked with a vaccine roll-out said on Tuesday.
