A FURTHER 525 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has said this evening.

In a statement, NPHET said that nine new deaths had been reported.

The total number of confirmed cases of the virus in Ireland is now 229,831. There have been a total of 4,585 deaths related to Covid-19 here to date.

Of the cases notified today:

• 255 are men / 265 are women
• 68% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 34 years old
• 266 in Dublin, 33 in Meath, 29 in Wexford, 25 in Offaly, 24 in Donegal, and the remaining 148 cases are spread across 19 other counties.

As of 8am today, 328 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 83 are in ICU. There were 27 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of March 17, 639,586 doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland with 468,328 people having received their first dose and 171,258 people having received their second dose.