Dr Tony Holohan has said that Ireland's current disease trends are "gravely concerning" after 727 new cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed.
Thankfully, no new deaths were reported on Monday night, but the Chief Medical Officer said "the situation has deteriorated rapidly" in recent days.
"A total of 3,837 cases have been notified in the past 7 days," he told reporters.
"The five-day rolling average has increased from 339 on 17th December to 616 on 21st December, an 82% increase.
"It is now as important as it was back in March to limit your contacts and protect your loved ones.”
As of midnight on Sunday, December 20, the HPSC has been notified of 727 new confirmed cases of Covid-19.
The latest figures mean that there's now a total of 80,267 confirmed cases in Ireland.
Of the infections notified today:
- 359 are men / 366 are women
- 62% are under 45 years of age
- The median age is 36 years old
In terms of the geographic location of the new cases, 311 people tested positive for the virus in Dublin.
Elsewhere, Kilkenny (51), Wexford (48), Donegal and Cork (44 each) all reported a large number of positive cases.
The remaining 229 cases are spread across 19 other counties.
Offaly and Longford recorded no new cases today.
As of 2pm on Monday, 241 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 29 are in ICU.
Another 18 people were admitted in the past 24 hours.
Here's the county-by-county breakdown of today's new cases:
Donegal - 44
Louth - 21
Kilkenny - 51
Wexford - 48
Carlow - <5
Cavan - 6
Laois - <5
Limerick - 35
Monaghan - 15
Dublin - 311
Longford - 0
Kerry - 24
Meath - 24
Mayo - <5
Waterford - 16
Sligo - 8
Kildare - 21
Wicklow - 11
Tipperary - 5
Cork - 44
Offaly - 0
Galway - 15
Roscommon - 6
Westmeath - 5
Clare - 9, and
Leitrim - <5.
