There have been 994 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Ireland.
Latest available figures also show there are 80 people in hospital with the virus - 22 of these in ICU.
However the Department of Health says the case numbers may change due to a future data review.
The five-day moving average has passed the 700 mark.
At an earlier briefing, HSE CEO Paul Reid warned that cases will continue to rise every day.
He says: "Yesterday we saw one of the highest number of cases in one day since February, at almost 800 cases.
"And we know and expect that today's cases will be approximately 1,000.
"So any kind of look forward ahead will clearly demonstrate this is on a very significant raise of case numbers.
"Data from the WHO demonstrate COVID incidence rates within Europe shows that the 14-day incidence rate in Ireland has increased by 50% compared to where it was two weeks ago.
"And we're now the eighth highest out of 31 countries".
It comes as Tánaiste Leo Varadkar says Monday July 26th is the planned re-opening day for indoor dining.
He says work is underway to finalise the guidelines for that re-opening - along with plans for an app reader.
"We're getting things in place, it looks like we're going to have an app reader that restaurateurs and publicans can use to verify that the COVID Cert is valid and so on.
"A lot of good work is being done on that, and we're kind of targeting Monday the 26th.
"It has to go through the Seanad, we need to allow the President time to consider the bill and sign it.
"And we need to get some regulations and a few things like that in place".
And vaccine registration is also opening for 25 to 20-year-olds from Friday.
It means everyone in that age group will be able to register to receive a Pfizer or Moderna vaccine in the coming weeks.
Anyone aged 18-30 can currently book an appointment with a pharmacy for a one-shot Janssen vaccine - although supplies remain limited.
Health officials continue to recommend that everyone under 50 get one of the two mRNA vaccines - Pfizer or Moderna.
However those aged under 34 are also able to 'opt in' for an AstraZeneca vaccine - meaning they may be vaccinated sooner.
