Nine more people have tragically died from the coronavirus in the Republic of Ireland.
And 46 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 have also been announced by the Department of Health.
The death toll in the Republic now stands at 1,639.
To date, there have been a total of 24,841 infections.
Speaking on Thursday evening, Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, said: “Throughout this pandemic NPHET has maintained a consistent focus on mortality, being very aware of the sad toll of lost loved ones on families.
“A mortality paper was prepared and discussed by NPHET today and identifies that mortality in Ireland has been within the lower range in overall terms compared with other health systems across Europe.
“Ireland will continue to report both confirmed and probable deaths from COVID-19 in all settings and direct public health measures to limit the burden of mortality.”
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: “The reproduction number is currently estimated to be 0.5.
"ICU and hospital admissions and number of deaths per day continue to decline. The number of cases per day remain stable.
"Next week we will see figures that reflect the impact of Phase 1 measures on key disease spread indictors.
"It is our hope that the r-number will remain below one and our progress is preserved."
Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, added: “Today, NPHET agreed in principle to include in the case definition the sudden loss of smell (anosmia) and loss of taste (ageusia).
"This is subject to updated guidance from the ECDC, which is expected to be published tomorrow.”
Earlier on Thursday, it was announced that two more people in Northern Ireland have lost their lives to the virus.
This latest rise brought the death toll there to 518.
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