A further 208 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Ireland, with 108 of them in Dublin.
No further deaths have been announced this evening.
It means the death toll remains at 1,784 while the total number of confirmed cases is now 31,192.
The country's 14-day incidence rate of the diesase is 46.8 according to the HPSC, while in Dublin it is almost double that at 89.1.
The national total takes account of the denotification of one previously-confirmed case.
The acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said 18 of the new cases have been identified as community transmission while one-third of them are associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of previously confirmed cases.
He said 108 of the new cases are in Dublin while 18 are in Louth, 12 are in Donegal, 10 are in Meath, nine are in Kildare, eight are in Waterford, seven are in Cork, six are in Limerick and six are in Wexford.
The rest are spread across Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Galway, Kilkenny, Laois, Longford, Mayo, Roscommon, Tipperary, Westmeath and Wicklow.
This afternoon, the Tánaiste Leo Varadkar strongly hinted that Dublin will be facing further restrictions from tomorrow.
Dr Glynn confirmed that NPHET has now decided to £reduce the period of isolation from 14 to 10 days confirmed cases from the onset of symptoms, based on advice received from the Expert Advisory Group following a review of the evidence.”
“In addition, it has been agreed that nasal swabs are an acceptable alternative to nasopharyngeal swab for use in children in the community,” he said.
“This will hopefully make testing a simpler process for children going forward.”
“COVID-19 is an evolving pandemic and NPHET is committed to adapting advice and guidelines based on emerging evidence.”
