There have been 687 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 and one additional related death in Ireland.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) says the death occurred in January.
There has been a total of 4,319 COVID-19 related deaths and 220,273 cases here.
Of the cases notified today:
- 352 are men / 334 are female
- 71% are under 45 years of age
- The median age is 30 years old
There are 240 cases in Dublin, 49 in Limerick, 44 in Offaly, 40 in Galway and 36 in Louth.
The remaining 278 cases are spread across 19 other counties.
As of 8.00am 540 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 120 are in ICU.
There have been 14 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
In terms of vaccines, as of February 26th, 426,070 doses have been administered here.
This breaks down as 285,780 people who have received their first dose, and 140,290 have received their second dose.
Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, said: "While the number of daily cases and the number of people in hospital and critical care remain high, we continue to make progress.
"In the last 24 hours, we have had no new admissions to critical care, the first time this has happened since St Stephen's Day.
"This is one more tangible signal of the efforts that people continue to make and how those efforts are impacting positively on the trajectory of COVID-19 in Ireland. Please stick with this over the coming weeks."
Preventing spread of COVID-19 'more important'
Meanwhile new data from a public opinion tracking survey shows that while people are finding it tough going, the large majority (79%) believe that preventing the spread of COVID-19 is more important than the burden of restrictions.
Just 10% disagree.
It also shows misperceptions about social activity - with half the adult population not meeting up with anyone outside their household over a 48-hour period.
Less than one quarter are meeting up with three or more.
Yet these more socially active people believe that they are meeting fewer people than average.
