There have been four additional deaths related to COVID-19 and 744 new confirmed cases in Ireland.
There is now a total of 86,129 confirmed cases and 2,204 deaths relating to the virus here.
Of the cases notified on Sunday:
- 388 are men / 354 are women
- 64% are under 45 years of age
- The median age is 34 years old
Some 246 cases are in Dublin, 131 in Cork, 51 in Limerick, 40 in Wexford and 33 in Donegal.
The remaining 243 cases are spread across 19 other counties.
As of 8.00am on Sunday, 324 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised - of which 26 are in ICU.
There have been 50 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, said: "We have seen a significant increase in the number of hospitalisations in the last two weeks from less than 190 to 324 today.
"This indicates a deteriorating disease trajectory nationally and is a significant reminder of the severity of this disease."
"There have been further increases across key indicators of COVID-19 right across the country and the growth rate of the epidemic has accelerated in recent days."
He added: "Due to the lower volume of tests being carried out over Christmas Day and yesterday, we believe there are higher levels of disease circulating in the community than today's reported case numbers reflect.
"We expect, therefore, to see a large increase in cases reported over the coming days."
"If we do not act now to stop the spread of COVID-19, we will not be able to protect those in our society that are most at risk of serious illness or death."
He urged people to "stay home, do not visit friends or family unless you are providing essential care and do not have visitors to your home."
Meanwhile Donegal has the highest 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population, at 425.9.
Wexford (348.6), Limerick (334.5), Louth (305.7) and Monaghan (288.3) make up the top five.
Leitrim has the lowest 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population in the country, at just 68.7.
The national average stands at 209.6.
Today’s cases, 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population and new cases in last 14 days (as of midnight 26 December 2020) (incidence rate based on Census 2016 county population). Source: Department of Health'Alarming levels'
It comes after the head of the Health Service Executive (HSE) said one in every 10 coronavirus tests being carried out in the community is returning a positive result.
Paul Reid said that is 'alarming levels,' with 23,000 tests being carried out per day.
While close contacts are averaging at five people, with tracing calls gone from less than 10,000 to now over 30,000 per week.
On Twitter, Mr Reid also appealed to people to 'review' their New Year plans to make sure they keep safe.
And the HSE has explained why Ireland is not rolling out a vaccine campaign alongside other EU countries.
The European Union launched a vaccination programme on Sunday, after the Pfizer/BioNTech drug was approved on December 21st.
However Ireland will not begin vaccinations for a number of days, despite the first doses arriving here on St Stephen's Day.
It says that, following the authorisation of the first COVID-19 vaccine on December 21st, several further steps need to be completed before the vaccine can be given to the first priority group here.
It explains that the National Immunisation Advisory Committee must complete and publish its chapter of advice on use of COVID-19 vaccines in Ireland.
This was published on December 23rd.
Following this, the office has to finalise training and education for the vaccinators based on this guidance.
These then have to be made freely available via e-learning and online documentation.
