There have been 63 further deaths related to COVID-19 and 3,569 more confirmed cases of the virus here.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) says five of these deaths occurred last November and one other in December.
The remaining 56 were in January - while the date for one reported death remains "under investigation."
There has been a total of 2,460 COVID-19 related deaths and 159,144 confirmed cases in Ireland.
This includes the denotification of 16 confirmed cases.
Of the cases notified on Wednesday:
- 1,616 are men / 1,924 are women
- 54% are under 45 years of age
- The median age is 42 years old
Some 1,119 cases are in Dublin, 416 in Cork, 200 in Galway, 182 in Louth and 169 in Waterford.
The remaining 1,483 cases are spread across all other counties.
As of 2.00pm, 1,770 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised - of which 172 are in ICU.
There have been 133 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, said: "We are seeing some early signs of progress with daily cases numbers and positivity rates.
"We can take some hope in them, but we have a long, long way to go.
"In the coming weeks ahead, we will need to draw upon our reserves of resilience from springtime as we can expect to see hospitalisations, admissions to ICU and mortality related to COVID-19 increase day on day."
He added: "The best way that we can all support one another now is to stay apart.
"Sadly, what we are seeing now is a result of the very high daily confirmed case numbers we experienced for successive weeks.
"To ensure our hospitals and loved ones remain protected, and stay alive to receive the vaccine, please continue to follow public health advice and stay home.
"At this challenging time, it is important to remind those that need acute care that hospitals are there for those that need them.
"No one should ignore any worrying signs they may need medical attention, such as lumps, chest pain or other new symptoms.
"Phone your GP if you have any concerns, not just those related to COVID-19."
