There have been 98 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Ireland in the last 24 hours, taking the national total to 29,303.

No new deaths have been announced and the death toll remains at 1,777.

On previously announced case has been denotified.

The acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said nine of the new cases have been identified as community transmission while 42% are associated with outbreaks or previously confirmed cases.

Some 24 of the new cases are in Dublin, while 13 are in Kildare, eight are in Kerry, six are in Kilkenny, six are in Limerick, six are in Louth and five are in Tipperary.

Dr Glynn said: “As we head into another weekend, keep physical distance top of mind at all times.

“Have no more than six visitors to your home and keep two metres between you. Open windows and keep rooms well ventilated if possible.

“It’s important that we all keep our number of social contacts low while we focus on keeping our schools safe – continuing to resume healthcare services and ultimately protecting the most vulnerable from COVID-19.”

As of 8am this morning, there were 44 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ireland’s hospitals.

Of the 63,697 tests carried out in the past week, 1.3% came back positive.