Irish health officials have reported 4,022 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland this evening.
530 people are now in hospital receiving treatment for the virus, as of 8:00 am this morning - 115 of whom are in Intensive Care Units.
This marks a decrease of 13 in hospital admissions and a decline of 3 in the ICU.
Today’s update comes after it was confirmed that further cases of the Omicron variant have been detected here in Ireland.
The State’s National Virus Reference Laboratory - which tracks all of the variants in Ireland - issued an update this evening.
Speaking at the weekly HSE Covid-19 briefing, Chief Executive Paul Reid said that he expects Omicron to become more dominant in Ireland.
He said that the HSE is actively planning for this but that it is still a mystery when it could happen.
“We expect it is only a matter of time before we are looking at significant numbers of cases of Omicron.
“We expect it to become more dominant. The timeframe is unknown,” he said.
Although the discovery of another case may cause worry among the public, more and more data is becoming available on the new variant, and officials are hopeful that restrictions will ease as planned in January.
Earlier this week, Micheal Martin said that the level of threat posed by the new strain of Covid-19 will determine whether additional restrictions are needed or if current measures can be eased.
He explained that the picture would become clearer once more research is carried out into the Omicron variant.
"There is a lot of international work going on right now in relation to the Omicron variant," he said.
"I think we do have to wait for the outcome of that work in terms of how infectious it is, how virulent it is, and what protections the vaccines give us.
"We do really have to wait and be patient in terms of getting a full understanding of Omicron because that will determine to a certain extent the direction of travel.
Today, the World Health Organisation’s Emergencies Director, Michael Ryan said: "The preliminary data doesn't indicate that this [Omicron] is more severe.
“In fact, if anything, the direction is towards less severity."
Despite the positive update, Dr. Ryan insisted that more research was still needed before any conclusion could be drawn.
The easing date set for the current restrictions is January 9, however, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has warned they could last longer depending on the data available at that point.
