A total of 543 more people have tested positive for coronavirus in Ireland, while 16 further deaths have been confirmed.
3 of these deaths occurred in March, 12 in February, 1 in January.
The median age of those who died was 88 years and the age range was 59 – 96 years.
This means that there has now been a total of 4,534 Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland with a total of 226,358 confirmed cases of the disease.
In terms of location, 235 new cases were reported in Dublin, 50 in Kildare, 39 in Donegal, 31 in Meath, 28 in Galway and the remaining 160 cases are spread across 20 other counties
Of the cases notified today:
- 269 are men / 271 are women
- 73% are under 45 years of age
- The median age is 29 years old
As of 8am today, 340 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 85 are in ICU. 15 additional hospitalizations occurred in the past 24 hours too.
As for the vaccine, health authorities have confirmed that 570,391 doses of vaccine have been administered in Ireland: 409,662 people have received their first dose, while 160,729 people have received their second dose
The latest figures were released by the Department of Health.
Earlier today, AstraZeneca confirmed further shortfalls in their planned supply of the vaccine to EU countries with Ireland set to get 45,000 fewer doses than scheduled.
The pharmaceutical company said that blamed production problems and export restrictions for the latest shortfall.
In a statement that was made to AFP, they said: "Unfortunately, export restrictions will reduce deliveries in the first quarter, and are likely to affect deliveries in the second quarter.
AstraZeneca started delivery of the vaccine to the EU in February and still aims to deliver 100 million doses in the first half of 2021.
Of this, 30 million are due to be delivered in the first quarter.
AstraZeneca had initially agreed to supply three times as many doses in the first quarter, and 180 million doses in the second quarter alone.
