There were 727 new cases of Covid-19 recorded in the Republic on Monday, the National Public Health Emergency Team has said.
16 of today's cases are in Waterford.
The national 14-day incidence rate is now 122.4, while in Waterford, the incidence rate is 107.6.
No further deaths were reported.
Of the new cases, 62 per cent are in people aged under 45, with 311 cases located in Dublin, 51 in Kilkenny, 48 in Wexford, 44 in Donegal, 44 in Cork and the remaining 229 spread across 19 other counties in the Republic.
The latest figures show 241 Covid-19 patients are in hospital, with 29 in intensive care.
Counties Donegal and Louth have the highest infection rates in the State.
In Donegal, the 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population is 273.9. In Louth, it now stands at 240.5. The lowest rate is in Leitrim at 28.1.
The 14-day incidence rate nationally is now 122 cases per 100,000 people – up from 83 on Monday last week.
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said the situation had “deteriorated rapidly in recent days”.
“A total of 3,837 cases have been notified in the past 7 days. The five-day rolling average has increased from 339 on 17th December to 616 on 21st December, an 82 per cent increase,” he said.
Prof Philip Nolan, chair of the Nphet Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said Ireland was “clearly now in a third wave”.
“The virus is transmitting very rapidly, faster than we have seen at any point since March. The case numbers are growing at least 5-7 per cent per day and, of particular concern, across all age groups,” he said.
New variant
This comes as a 48-hour ban on travel to the Republic from Britain is set to be extended until after Christmas.
The ban, which came into force at midnight, caused travel chaos in Britain, disrupting the travel plans of large numbers of Irish emigrants hoping to return for Christmas.
It was introduced due to concerns over the spread of a new, more infectious variant of Covid-19 in England, particularly in the southeast. As yet, there are no confirmed cases of the new strain in Ireland.
Meanwhile, the State will receive up to 9,750 doses of Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the week after Europe’s medicines regulator recommended conditional approval for the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
Ireland is in line to receive two shipments of the vaccine just after Christmas Day. The shipments come in various sizes – ranging from 195 vials of the vaccine to 975 vials. Each vial contains five doses of the vaccine.
