HEALTH OFFICIAL HAVE confirmed 344 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

A further four patients diagnosed with the disease have died. This brings the total number of deaths to 2,022. 

There have been 70,173 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland since the beginning of the pandemic.

Of the cases notified today;

• 156 are men / 185 are women;
• 69% are under 45 years of age;
• The median age is 32 years old;
• 127 in Dublin, 46 in Cork, 26 in Louth, 22 in Donegal, 20 in Limerick and the remaining 103 cases are spread across 20 other counties.

As of 2pm today 269 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 32 are in ICU. There have been 12 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) is due to meet next week and give advice to the government about whether the country can move out of Level 5 restrictions. 

At the end of last week case numbers crept up again after an encouraging reduction and health officials warned there was a short window to turn the situation around.

It is expected the government will make an announcement late next week about plans to manage the spread of the virus over the month of December and into the new year.