A further 351 Covid-19 cases have been confirmed this evening.
Meanwhile 46 people are being treated in hospital, 16 of which are in ICU.
The figures were confirmed by the Department of Health.
They come as the country was dealt a major blow today following Taoiseach Micheal Martin's announcement to delay the further reopening of the country.
Hospitality was set to see a massive change on July 5 with the resumption of indoor dining and drinking originally due to return on that date.
However those plans have been dashed after the Taoiseach confirmed the delay in reopening due to the threat posed by the Delta variant.
Mr Martin said NPHET's advice is that the return to indoor hospitality should be limited to those who are fully vaccinated and those who have recovered from Covid.
He said that the ongoing rollout of vaccines will provide “a wall of protection” against variants like Delta.
Mr Martin said that “great progress has been made” in the battle against Covid and that his Government’s plan this year has always been to only reopen a sector of society when it can guarantee it stays open.
He said: "I’ve been clear in repeating, when a sector or activity reopens, we want to make sure it stays open.
"Last night NPHET advised in very stark terms that reopening on July 5 poses great risk... so we have agreed to delay some elements of reopening.”
He added: "The simple truth is that we are in a race between the variant and the vaccine.
"Concern has been growing here about the prevalence of the Delta variant. One thing that is very clear is that it is much more transmissible.
"The feedback is consistent - the process of reopening and then closing has had a terrible impact on people."
NPHET gave a grave warning to Cabinet on Monday night that the plan to return to indoor dining would create a "great risk".
Nobody in the Government wants to see a disastrous return to lockdown like the one associated with the ‘third wave’ of Covid that arrived in January.
This saw over 2,000 cases a day in the middle of January, with more than 200 in hospital at once stretching the health service.
The resultant third wave resulted in about 3,000 extra deaths.
