The number of people in ICU remains unchanged at 13.
As of midnight on Wednesday 23 June, the Department of Health has been notified of 304 new cases of Covid-19 across Ireland.
Of the 304 cases, 47 are in hospital and 13 are in intensive care units throughout the country.
According to the Department, daily case numbers may change due to future data review, validation and update.
It comes as Professor Luke O’Neill said that annual Covid-19 vaccine booster shots will be the “only way” to deal with new Covid-19 variants such as the Delta variant.
Speaking on The Pat Kenny Show on Thursday, the Professor of Biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin said that the way to “handle these variants” would be booster shots to “really kick off the immune system”.
“The only way to handle these variants is booster shots in the autumn, that will really kick off the immune system to protect against multiple variants,” he said.
“The way out of this variant issue is extensive vaccination now of course, but then also booster shots with any of the vaccines.”
O’Neill was also asked if the Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine is effective against the Delta variant.
He said that there isn’t enough field data yet, as the Johnson & Johnson vaccine hasn’t been used as widely in the UK, where the Delta variant is at its highest, compared to other jabs.
However, he said that scientists are “confident” it does protect people from hospitalisation and more severe forms of the disease.
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