A total of 456 more people have tested positive for coronavirus in Ireland, while 13 further deaths have been confirmed.
However health officials said that previous cases were unable to be reported in recent days due to a technical issue, leading to a larger number of cases today.
It brings the total number of infections here to 73,948 since the pandemic began.
Dublin was once again the hardest-hit region with 197 new cases, followed by Donegal with 37 and Limerick with 33.
While 21 new cases were reported in Louth, 20 in Kilkenny and the remaining 148 cases are spread across 21 other counties.
The latest figures were released by the Department of Health this evening.
Of the cases notified today:
- 219 are men / 235 are women
- 59% are under 45 years of age
- The median age is 39 years old
It comes after it emerged that political party leaders are lining up to take the Covid vaccine on live TV.
Leo Varadkar, Eamon Ryan, Mary Lou McDonald, Catherine Murphy and Róisín Shortall all told the Irish Mirror they would get the jab in public in a bid to boost public uptake.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin also said he would have no problem doing it, as long as it wasn’t part of some “PR gimmick.”
The next battle in the war against Covid will be rolling out the vaccine to the country’s four and a half million people.
The vaccine will start to be rolled out in Northern Ireland from Monday, with a vaccination programme to start here “within weeks,” according to Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly.
But there is a problem with ‘vaccine hesitancy’ as up to 35% of people have said in surveys they would be reluctant to get the potentially life-saving shot.
US President-elect, Joe Biden started the ball rolling in the US with his offer to get the vaccine in front of a lice TV audience, and our leaders are now following suit.
A spokesman for Leo Varadkar said: “The Tánaiste would be very happy to get the vaccine and have it administered in public once it is approved by the EMA if that helps to reassure people that the vaccine is safe.
“However, he is also very conscious of the fact that he is not in a high-risk or priority group and therefore should not be prioritised over those who are.”
His co-leader in Government is also willing.
