There have been 1,545 further cases of COVID-19 reported in Ireland.
Latest available figures show there are 335 patients hospitalised with the virus, of which 56 are in ICU.
There has been a total of 5,155 deaths related to COVID-19 in Ireland.
This includes 43 deaths newly notified in the past week.
But Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, says the rate of infection is falling.
"Overall the incidence of COVID-19 infection is declining across the country, the five-day moving average is 1,407 and we see a stabilisation of ICU and hospital admissions.
"Incidence of COVID-19 in adolescents and young adults is falling significantly, and we are seeing early encouraging signs that the rate of infection plateauing in children of school going age.
"NPHET will continue to monitor this trend over the coming weeks."
He adds: "Vaccination continues to offer the best protection against the most severe effects of COVID-19 including hospitalisation and death.
"Anyone yet to avail of vaccination is strongly encouraged to do so. Local vaccination sites are available on hse.ie".
It comes after UCD Professor Jack Lambert says new measures are needed to reduce COVID transmission in schools - with one-in-five new cases now under the age of 12.
Around 14,000 children are currently out of school because they have been deemed close-contacts, and the figure is expected to rise in the coming weeks.
Prof Lambert earlier said: "If you look over the last couple of weeks in terms of the numbers of cases reported by the Government, they keep saying that kids are not a source of transmission and kids aren’t catching it in school but actually, 50% of all cases in the last two weeks were 25 and under and 20% were 12 and under.
"So, kids are spreading the virus.
"Kids are spreading it and the issue is do we let them spread it, because they are taking it home and it is having consequences for the whole family including people who are at risk in the home.
"I think we need a living with COVID strategy for schools that doesn’t keep kids out of school but makes it safe for everybody both in the school and in the household to live safely."
