A total of 1,012 more people have tested positive for coronavirus in Ireland, while three further people have died.
It brings the total number of infections here to 41,714 since the pandemic began.
The latest figures were announced by the Department of Health this evening.
Dublin has seen another spike with 241 further cases reported, followed by Cork with 112.
While 80 new infections have been reported in Cavan, 72 in Meath, 66 in Galway, and the remaining 441 cases are spread across 21 other counties.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said he is "very worried" by the increase in new cases.
He said: “I am very worried about the numbers we are seeing and how quickly they are deteriorating.
“All of today’s 1,012 cases were notified to the HPSC over a period of 24 hours up to midnight.
“The 14-day incidence rate has increased from 108 per 100,000 last Sunday to 150 per 100,000 today, which represents a 39% increase.
“All of the important indicators of the disease are deteriorating. For example, there has been a consistent increase in test positivity over the past week. The test positivity rate up to midnight Friday 9 October was 6.2%, which has more than doubled in less than a fortnight.
“Case numbers are growing across all age groups and throughout the country.”
Of the cases notified today:
- 511 are men / 496 are women
- 71% are under 45 years of age
- The median age is 30 years old
It comes after Tanaiste Leo Varadkar assured the public that the government would not take any further lockdown decisions lightly.
Speaking with Bobby Kerr on Newstalk's Down to Business, Varadkar said he was certain we wouldn't go to the last two levels unless it was "completely necessary".
He said: "One of the tough decisions I made when I was Taoiseach back in March was to lockdown the country and that resulted in hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs and going on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment - which we created in order to give them some income support.
"And it's heartbreaking for me to think that just in the last week or so, we had to close down hospitality.
"Seeing 60,000 people back on the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, laid off for the second time in a year, and no government wants to be making those decisions and we don't make them lightly.
"And we certainly won't go to Level 4 or Level 5 unless we believe it's necessary."
