There have been 39 further deaths related to COVID-19 and 462 new confirmed cases.

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) says 10 of these deaths were in March, 12 in February, 13 in January, and three were "earlier than this".

One further death is also under investigation.

The median age of those who died was 81 years and the age range was between 0 to 97 years.

There have been four preliminary reports of stillbirths "potentially associated with a condition called COVID Placentitis."

Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, explained: "These reports should be interpreted with caution as the coroners have not yet concluded their findings.

"The HSEs National Women and Infants Programme is aware of and is monitoring the situation and has issued a related notice to obstetric departments.

"I would ask that the privacy of all of those affected by this disease continue to be respected at all times."

There has been a total of 4,396 COVID-19 related deaths in Ireland and 221,649 confirmed cases.

Of the cases notified today:

• 224 are men / 236 are women
• 69% are under 45 years of age
• The median age is 31 years old

There are 207 cases in Dublin, 29 in Cork, 26 in Meath, 20 in Kildare and 18 in Galway.

The remaining 162 cases are spread across all other counties.

As of 8.00am today, 460 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised - of which 107 are in ICU.

There have been 26 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

In terms of vaccine doses, as of March 1st, 446,474 doses have been administered.

This breaks down as 303,550 people who have received their first dose, and 142,924 who received their second dose.

Dr Breda Smyth, director of public health at HSE West, said: "We have confirmed that more than 200 households have had an outbreak of COVID-19 that are linked back to the outbreak among students.

"We know that the new variant is more transmissible, and, based on the latest data, approximately a third of household contacts of confirmed cases in Ireland are now testing positive.

"If you display any symptoms of COVID-19, you must immediately self-isolate in your room and phone your GP.

"We know how to break the chains of transmission of this disease. We must all continue to make every effort to limit our social contacts, stay home and stay safe."

Dr Máirín Ryan, deputy chief executive of HIQA, said: "HIQA has today published its advice to NPHET on reducing the minimum age of mask wearing in children.

"As we know, the evidence points towards face mask use in the community reducing transmission of COVID-19.

"However, in young children, the benefit of face masks is likely small and may be affected by their reduced ability to comply with face mask wearing.

"The expert advisory group has not advised any change to the guidance on mask wearing in children.

"The best way to ensure that schools remain a low-risk environment is by the continued use of a combination of public health measures, such as physical distancing, hand hygiene, cough etiquette, increased ventilation and by not attending when you have symptoms of COVID-19."

And Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: "The R number has at least remained stable and may even have decreased slightly, this is reflected in the week-on-week decline in cases that has been reported recently.

"This represents an extraordinary effort over a very challenging nine week period that has brought us from 6,500 cases to under 600."