The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) have confirmed 309 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, and eight additional deaths, two of which occurred in February and two in January or earlier.
The reproductive, or R number, is now estimated to be in the region of 0.7-1, while the five-day moving average is 341.
There has now been a total of 242,402 Covid-19 cases notified in the State and 4,820 Covid related deaths.
Of today's cases, 168 were men, 141 were women and 71 per cent were under the age of 45.
Dublin accounted for 107 of the cases, while there were 30 in Kildare, 14 in Offaly, 21 in Meath and 14 in Limerick. The remaining 104 cases were spread across 18 other counties.
Vaccine rollout
Earlier today, health officials said they “expect and hope” the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will become available during quarter two.
Use of the vaccine was paused by its manufacturer this week amid concerns from US regulators over rare cases of blood clotting.
The State was due to receive more than 600,000 doses of the single-shot vaccine between April and June, meaning plans for the vaccine rollout had to be quickly redrawn.
However, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said the country is still on course to lift more restrictions from May 4th.
Mr Varadkar also said that 80 per cent of the population will have had their first dose of the Covid vaccine, or have been offered it, by the end of June.
He said the Government will sit down at the end of April to develop a reopening plan for the months of May, June and July.
