Coronavirus: 542 new cases and two further deaths reported by Nphet

The deaths of another two patients with Covid-19 have been reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team. This brings to 1,947 the total number of virus-related deaths in the pandemic.

Nphet also reported 542 confirmed cases of the disease on Sunday, bringing to 65,394 the total number of cases in the Republic.

Of the new cases, 181 are in Dublin, 59 in Donegal, 50 in Limerick, 36 in Cork, 25 in Kildare, with the remaining 191 cases are spread across 20 other counties.

The median age of cases is 35 years and 64 per cent are under 45.

State joins EU traffic-light system for international travel

---

Coronavirus: Five further deaths and 335 new cases reported in the State

---

Coronavirus: Aim is to move from Level 5 to ‘minimum additional restrictions’

---

Tidy Towns contest to go ahead next year, says Humphreys

---

On Sunday afternoon, 283 patients with Covid-19 were hospitalised, of which 39 were in ICU. There have been 13 additional hospitalisations in the last 24 hours.

The 14-day incidence of the virus nationally is 175.5 cases per 100,000 people. Donegal has the highest county incidence at 295.2 and Leitrim has the lowest at 34.3.

Earlier on Sunday, Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has declined to be drawn on the like guidance to deal with Covid-19 over the Christmas period and festive holiday get-togethers.

Mr Donohoe said the Government had yet to make decisions on “future public health guidance because we continue to be so focused on the implementation of current public health guidance.

"There are many signs that because of the continued efforts of the public combined with overall good public health decisions that we are seeing signs of reduction the spread of the disease again," he said, as Ireland joins the EU traffic lights system for international travel.

Asked on RTÉ’s This Week programme about reported warnings by Professor Philip Nolan of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) of a third wave of the virus if people have significant get-togethers at Christmas, the Minister said “we need to continue to focus to implement this phase” before looking at future phases.

He said they had to “recognise the value of what we can achieve if we get the spread of this disease down to a low and stable place because that has a really big impact on the future development of the disease and in turn future public health decisions”.

There were five further deaths and 335 new cases reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on Saturday.

There has been a total of 1,945 Covid-19 related deaths and a total of 64,855 confirmed cases of in the State.

Of the cases notified on Saturday; 155 are men / 177 are women, 64 per cent are under 45 years of age

There were 72 in Dublin, 41 in Donegal, 26 in Mayo, 25 in Cork, 23 in Kerry, and the remaining 148 cases are spread across 19 other counties.

As of 2pm on Saturday 284 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 40 are in ICU. 23 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.