Ten more people have died from Covid-19 in Ireland and 200 new cases have been diagnosed today.

Of the 10 patients who died, eight were male and two were female.

Six of the deaths occurred in the east of the country, three in the northwest of the country and one in the south.

The median age of today's reported deaths is 77.

There are now 24 cases of covid 19 confirmed in the Donegal

There are now 12 cases of covid 19 confirmed in the Sligo

There have now been 46 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland.

There are now 2,615 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

Meanwhile, the Health Service Executive is planning for a surge of Covid-19 cases in mid April, but said it was impossible to predict exactly when the outbreak would peak in Ireland.

CEO Paul Reid, chief operations officer Anne O'Connor and Public Health Medicine consultant Dr Sarah Doyle held a briefing at Citywest in Dublin, updating the public on all the latest developments in the ongoing battle to contain the spread of the virus.

The HSE is preparing to open a coronavirus isolation and stepdown facility at the Citywest hotel and conference centre with the ability to accommodate over 1,000 people.

"There will be 750 beds for people who need to self-isolate and we hope to have that open by the end of this week," said Ms O'Connor.

"The stepdown facility will only be used if we need it - if there is an overflow of patients from our hospital system. It will be operational within two to three weeks and can accommodate 450 people."

Mr Reid said it was "impossible" to predict when Ireland will reach the peak of the pandemic - but we are not at the peak right now. "We have to plan for the worst case scenario. We have to be prepared."

Ms O'Connor said - while the HSE could not know for sure when the peak would be - "April 10 to 14 is what we are planning for".