Tomas Doherty
One in six adults in Ireland has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, the Minister for Health has said.
Stephen Donnelly also said the Republic has one of the lowest rates of Covid-19 in Europe.
Tuesday saw nine further Covid-19-related deaths and another 443 infections reported.
There are currently 261 Covid patients in hospital, with 60 of them in intensive care units.
The national 14-day incidence rate of the disease is 157.1 cases per 100,000 people.
Offaly is the county with the highest infection rate at 407.9, down slightly from recent days. Sligo has the lowest rate, at 27.5.
The Mid Ulster council district is the worst hit area in the North, with an incidence rate of 189.2 cases per 100,000 people over the last 14 days.
The next highest rate is in the Derry City and Strabane area, with 130.9 cases per 100,000.
Northern Ireland reported the lowest number of cases in a 24-hour period since last September on Tuesday.
A further 57 positive cases of the virus were confirmed along with three more deaths linked to Covid-19.
The Northern Ireland Executive hopes to publish dates for the reopening of hairdressers, beauticians and non-essential retail when it meets next week.
A number of lockdown restrictions will be eased from April 12th, including the reopening of garden centres and car washes.
Contactless click-and-collect for all non-essential retail will also resume.
