A record high number of cases.
3,394 new Covid-19 cases have been confirmed, as well four additional deaths.
This figure includes an unstated number of cases from the backlog that has occurred.
As of Saturday evening, there are currently 607 Covid-19 patients in hospitals across the country, with 56 of them in the ICU.
389 of today’s cases are in Cork, 355 are in Dublin, 339 are in Donegal, 258 are in Louth, 233 are in Mayo, 209 are in Limerick, 150 are in Sligo, and 116 in Galway.
The remaining cases are spread across all other counties.
Speaking on Saturday, Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan said: “Hospitalisations are rising to levels close to what we saw in the springtime. Everyone needs to stay at home other than for essential work or care.
“This includes asking neighbours or family to carry out errands such as grocery shopping, limiting all contacts to only those people you live with or have to visit for essential care reasons.
“We need to rediscover the spirit of solidarity and community we saw in March and April so that we can all do our part in protecting older and vulnerable people.”
3,576 new Covid cases were confirmed in Northern Ireland today, as well as 26 deaths. However, this figure represents all of the figures recorded in the past 48 hours, as no numbers were released on Friday.
Meanwhile, Ireland could see 6,000 cases per day in the coming week to ten days, according to Professor Philip Nolan.
Recent information suggests that the new Covid strain that was initially found in England is now in Ireland, but that it is definitely “not responsible” for the recent “significant and concerning increase” in case numbers.
This comes after An Taoiseach blamed the new strain for the recent increase in cases.
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