PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS have confirmed 1,314 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

The Department of Health has reported that 187 patients in hospital have tested positive for the coronavirus disease and a total of 30 people are in intensive care units with the illness.

It added that there has been a total of 5,044 deaths related to Covid-19 in Ireland.

Yesterday, 1,015 cases of Covid-19 were reported, with 178 patients with the illness in hospital, 29 of whom were in intensive care.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, said: “Today, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and European Medicines Agency have strongly encouraged those who are eligible for vaccination but have not yet been vaccinated to start and complete the recommended Covid-19 vaccination schedule as soon as they can.

Full vaccination is the best protection for you and your community from COVID-19, including from variants such as Delta, which is dominant in Ireland.

Yesterday, Dr Holohan warned that virus outbreaks are originating through symptomatic people “attending workplaces, or eating out, or visiting friends”.

The latest vaccine statistics show that more than 5.9 million doses have been administered in Ireland.

As of last night, over 3.1 million people have received at least one dose and over 2.6 million people have two doses. A total of 218,000 have also received the single-shot Janssen vaccine.