A further 90 people have died from Covid-19.

Tonight’s figures show that 928 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland in the past 24 hours, with 257 in Dublin, 115 in Cork, 71 in Louth, 53 in Galway, 45 in Limerick and the remaining 387 cases spread across all other counties.

“Today we are reporting a further 90 deaths, bringing our cumulative total of lives lost to COVID-19 to more than 3,000 in Ireland,” said Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health.

“This highly infectious disease is having a severe impact on the most vulnerable in our society and we must continue the good work we are doing to suppress it.”

Dr Holohan said that while the decline in daily incidence of COVID-19 has begun, the volume of disease in communities remains very high, with 96,000 cases in January 2021.

“Through our enhanced public health surveillance programme, we have identified six additional cases linked to the Southern African variant of concern. All cases are being followed up by public health teams in line with the latest ECDC guidance published on 21 January.” Dr Holohan added.

Tighter travel restrictions

Speaking at this evening’s press briefing at Government Buildings, An Taoiseach Michéal Martin said that while the restrictions are having a positive impact, the numbers remain too high.

he hoped that extending the Level 5 restrictions until March 5th will help frontline workers to cope with the surge in hospitalisations.

He also confirmed that new rules on quarantine for passengers arriving in Ireland are now “mandatory, not advisory.”

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said that, while case number are beginning to reduce, it will take some time before levels return to a manageable level.

The HSE hopes to administer 51,000 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine this week, adding to the 143,000 first-dose vaccinations administered so far.