96 new cases of Covid-19 in Meath

As intensive care units across the country advance towards an 'extremely perilous position,' public health officials have reported 52 further deaths and 2,371 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.

In total, 184,279 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, along with 2,870 deaths.

96 new cases were reported in Meath today.

HSE CEO, Paul Reid, said the ICU situation is advancing to an 'extremely perilous position'.

At 2pm today, 1,931 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised, with 219 of these in ICU. There have been 78 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

There were 26 Covid-19 patients in Our Lady's Hospital, Navan, last night with two of them in critical care beds.

There were 88 Covid patients in Drogheda and eight in critical care beds.

Of the cases reported today 757 are in Dublin, 237 in Cork, 154 in Waterford, 123 in Wexford, 114 in Louth, and the remaining 986 cases are spread across all other counties.

Over half (57%) of today’s cases are in people under the age of 45.

Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan urged people to stay the course with the current restrictions and public health advice to limit the spread of Covid-19.

Meanwhile there will be no easing of Level 5 restrictions at the end of this month, the Taoiseach has confirmed, suggesting the current measures will be in place for at least another four weeks.

Micheál Martin also said there are no plans to "seal the island" or "seal the border" between north and south in response to increased calls for tougher measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

He said Cabinet will consider plans to introduce mandatory quarantining for passengers arriving in to the State who do not have a valid PCR test showing they are Covid negative.