There have been 456 additional cases and six deaths from Covid-19 reported to the Department of Health.
21 of those cases are in Waterford. Coming after a high of 43 cases on Friday, the incidence rate for the county is now at 140.3.
There were 151 cases recorded in Dublin, while there were 38 in Limerick. Cork, Donegal and Galway also recorded 27 cases each.
The remaining 186 cases were spread across 20 additional counties.
Ireland's 14-day incidence rate continues to fall, with the Republic reporting a rate of 123.2 cases per 100,000 people according to today's data from the European Centre for Disease Control and Preventions (ECDC).
Despite the reduction, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan remains cautious, expressing worry regarding the numbers of cases in people over the age of 65.
In a letter sent to the Government, Dr Holohan noted that the number of people over 65 testing positive for Covid-19 had risen to 11.9 per cent, up from 7.6 per cent recorded in the week up to October 15th.
He added that indicators of the disease here are improving but it was not yet possible to "draw substantive conclusions about the trajectory of the disease at this point”.
“The hard work undertaken by all of us over the last three weeks is to be commended, but we must not allow our success to date let us drop our guard against the spread of this disease,” Dr Holohan said.
Halfway mark
Having passed the halfway mark in the current six-week lockdown, attention is firmly focused on how the country will reopen on December 1st.
Government and public health officials have warned that we will not be able to celebrate Christmas the same as other years if we wish to keep the spread of the virus low.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has also confirmed that Gardaí will not be clamping down on house gatherings this Christmas despite reports earlier this week that it is likely that people will be asked to keep their close contacts to a minimum.
Mr Martin said current garda powers were enacted to tackle house parties and were not intended to stop family visits when restrictions are eased next month.
“I do get that people will want to meet with family. People know what works, and they know they won’t be on the lash this Christmas. We won’t have the office parties people had in previous years,” Mr Martin said
by Muirean Duffy and Julie Smyth
