Health officials have confirmed that the R rate of COVID-19 has fallen offering a ray of hope after the worrying rise in cases two weeks ago.
The R number has gone down to between 1 and 1.4 but experts have warned against complacency.
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: “That the R value has decreased is welcome news.
"However, it is tempered by the fact that this novel virus is still with us, and it only needs our complacency to spread widely once again as it wants to do. This is a long game.
"As we head into the weekend and beyond, we must continue to remain vigilant in order to keep this progress up.”
The Department of Health has announced seven new cases of coronavirus in Ireland today.
The overall number of cases now stands at 25,826.
A further nine people have sadly lost their lives to COVID-19 bringing the death toll to 1,763.
It's understood that eight of these new deaths actually occurred in April, May and June - meaning the figure of nine represents one recent fatality.
Dr. Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said; “Two weeks ago, we expressed our concerns about worrying trends in the progression of COVID-19 in Ireland.
"Collectively, people in Ireland responded to this call for action and together have broken chains of transmission.
"This is a further demonstration of the power of people working together and rising to the continued challenge of this unprecedented pandemic.
"What we need now is to hold firm and keep up the good work.
“I believe we can maintain the important progress we have made together, but only if we continue to heed the public health advice - physical distance of 2m between one another, frequent hand washing, wearing a face covering where appropriate and cough/sneeze hygiene.”
