A further 484 coronavirus cases have been reported this evening, marking another spike in infections in recent days.
Meanwhile sadly another three Covid related deaths have been confirmed.
The figures were announced by the National Public Health Emergency Team this evening during a press briefing.
Experts earlier expressed their concerns about the current Covid trends emerging in Ireland.
Speaking this week Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said that recent trends were "troubling because of the delicate and precarious situation we are in".
He added: “We are seeing significant and concerning indicators that this disease is moving in the wrong direction, including an increase in positivity rates, and 7-day and 14-day incidence, and our 5-day average has now increased to 339 cases,"
Despite the concerns raised as the festive season gets into full swing there is hope that the end to the pandemic is in sight as it was revealed a Covid vaccine will start being administered from December 27 in the EU.
Vaccinations have already started taking place in the UK and the US however a vaccine has yet to be approved for EU member states.
However speaking today EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said EU countries will begin inoculating people against the new coronavirus from Dec. 27 if a vaccine is approved before then.
The European Medicines Agency said an expert panel will convene on Monday to evaluate the vaccine made by U.S. company Pfizer and German partner BioNTech.
Deliveries will start on Dec. 26 from vaccine production sites in Belgium and Germany but the Commission said it would be up to each of the EU's 27 states to organise and coordinate their own vaccination programmes.
