“We are cautiously optimistic about the epidemiological situation across the country."
The Department of Health has been notified of a further 52 deaths related to Covid-19 in Ireland.
33 of these deaths occurred in February, 12 occurred in January, six in December or earlier and one is still under investigation.
866 new cases of the virus were also confirmed in Ireland.
281 of the cases are in Dublin, 63 in Galway, 56 in Kildare, 47 in Meath, 39 in Cork and the remaining 380 cases are spread across all other counties.
As of 8am today, 984 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 172 are in ICU.
There have been 44 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “We are cautiously optimistic about the epidemiological situation across the country. This positive momentum has been achieved through the dedication of people across the country in recent weeks.
"However, incidence and mortality rates are still very high, and the significant risk of community transmission of the virus remains, especially for those most vulnerable to Covid-19 infection. It is of vital importance that people continue to stay at home and to work from home where at all possible.”
Professor Karina Butler, Chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee said: “As of this week, we have administered 242,353 doses of Covid-19 vaccine. This is a wonderful achievement and I want to thank all our vaccine administration teams for their dedication and hard work.
"We hope that as our vaccination numbers go up, we can offer more protection those who are vaccinated and ultimately the wider population. But, until that time, all of us, including those of us who have received our Covid-19 vaccines, must maintain our adherence to all of the other public health measures like washing our hands and social distancing.”
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: “In the last week, the HSE has begun to test close contacts of confirmed cases. This is a positive move as it clearly shows that we are back in the containment phase of this pandemic.
"However, the positivity rates among household contacts is quite high, close to 30%. This is a timely reminder to us all to immediately isolate ourselves if we have any symptoms, to protect those most important to us. We should also continue to limit our social contacts. Do not visit another person’s household unless you are providing essential care.”
Dr Lorraine Doherty National Clinical Director Health Protection HSE - Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), said: “The Covid-19 find-test-trace-isolate’ process is vital to our efforts. We all need to contact our GP as soon as symptoms occur, to go for a test, trace our contacts if our test is positive and prevent further infections.
"It is important to remember that everyone can access testing free of charge. Testing and contact tracing are vital to our ongoing collective efforts to minimise the spread of Covid-19.”
