Health Officials have announced 53 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland, taking the national total to 28,811.
No further deaths have been reported and the death toll remains at 1,777.
The acting chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said 14 of the new cases have been identified as community transmission while 27 arr associated with ourbreaks or are close contacts of previously confirmed cases.
Some 25 are in Dublin and 11 are in Limerick. The rest are spread between Kildare, Longford, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Laois, Meath, Roscommon, Tipperary, Westmeath.
He said today's decision to lift the lockdown restrictions in County Kildare was "testament to the willingness of everyone" in the county to follow the public health measures that we put in place.
"At a meeting of the National Public Health Emergency Team today, NPHET thanked people in Kildare – and in Laois and Offaly previously – for their forbearance and noted that their actions are a demonstration, and a further reminder, of what can be achieved through collective action as we continue to strike a balance between living our lives and behaving in a way that protects one another,” he said.
As of 8am this morning, there were 35 COVID-19 patients in Irish hospitals and six people in intensive care.
Of the 62,179 tests carried out in the last week, 1.2% have come back positive.
The Chief Nursing Officer Rachel Kenna everyone needs to play their part to ensure schools remain open in the coming months.
“We can all support parents and school children in our communities by following public health advice," she said.
"We all have a responsibility to keep our schools open by applying this advice to our daily lives. Remember the key protective behaviours - regular hand washing, physical distance, wearing face coverings where appropriate, reduce your social contacts, know the symptoms and know when to isolate.”
Officials said 75% of the new patients are under the age of 45-years-old.
