County Donegal has now gone 14 days (2 weeks) without any new cases of Covid 19 which is very positive for the northwest as Co.Sligo leads the way with no new cases reported in the last 19 days. Leitrim has had no new cases.

County Kerry have had no positive cases in 16 days and Wexford have had no positive tests in 15 days which is a positive considering how close it is to Dublin and other eastern county’s that have very high rates .

The Department of Health has announced that a further five people who had previously been diagnosed with Covid-19 have died.

It brings the overall death toll here to 1,664.

The Department has also been notified of an additional 38 cases of the virus, bringing the total number of cases here to 25,142.

The latest figures from the department show that of the 25,104 cases as of midnight last Tuesday, over 3,311 cases – or 13% - have required hospitalisation.

Of these, 410 cases have been admitted to intensive care.

Over 8,025 cases have been associated with healthcare workers, accounting for around 32% of all cases so far.

The median age of cases so far is 48, with a split of 57% female, and 43% male.

Dublin has the highest number of cases with 12,109 (48% of all cases), followed by Cork and Kildare.

The figures come as Minister for Health Simon Harris earlier told the Dáil that there has been a "slight potential increase" in the reproductive rate of the virus.

Mr Harris said the data suggests that the rate is now between 0.4 and 0.7.

However, he said the number still remains below 1, and that means the growth of the virus is still being suppressed.

Speaking at this evening's briefing, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said further progress was made this month, and a downward trend was evident in the number of hospitalisations, ICU admission and reported deaths.

Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said the easing of restrictions in Phase 1 has not negatively impacted the reproductive number.