2,180 more people have tested positive for Covid-19 - the most new infections reported in one day since late January.
406 people are being treated in hospital for the virus, 71 of them receiving intensive care.
As of this morning, 18 patients were being treated for Covid in University Hospital Waterford, and one of those patients was in ICU.
Tony Canavan, chief executive of the Saolta Hospital Group, says there's a simple explanation for rising infection numbers:
"Certainly there's a greater level of social activity... More people are on the streets and going into shops. More people are returning to work on a full-time basis. Children are in schools and so on.
"So, where there's greater movement and mixing of people, there's more opportunities for covid to be transmitted.
"That's the best explanation that we can find for the increase that we've seen in the numbers."
