Eight more people who were diagnosed with COVID-19 in the Republic of Ireland have died, the Department of Health confirmed.
It brings the total number of coronavirus-related deaths here to 54.
Six of the people who passed away were located in the east of the country, with one in the west and one in the south. The median age of today’s reported deaths is 86.
Six patients were reported as having underlying health conditions.
Five of the patients were female and three were male.
An additional 295 new cases of the virus have also been confirmed in the Republic, with 2,910 people now having tested positive for COVID-19 as of 1pm today.
In terms of the island of Ireland, a total of 76 coronavirus-related deaths have now been recorded.
It was confirmed today that another person who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 died in Northern Ireland.
123 new cases were also confirmed there today, bringing the total number of cases across the Republic and Northern Ireland to over 3,400.
As of midnight on Saturday, 645 patients with COVID-19 have been hospitalised, data released by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre shows.
578 healthcare workers have tested positive for the virus.
Additionally, there are 111 clusters nationwide.
A further breakdown of the data is available here.
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The Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said this evening: “We are beginning to see encouraging signs in our efforts to flatten the curve.
"However, we cannot become complacent as we are still seeing new cases and more ICU admissions every day.
“Our strategy remains the implementation of public health restrictions to interrupt the spread of the virus and prevent people from arriving to ICU in first place.”
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group (IEMAG), said: “We know what an unmitigated epidemic looks like, we are not on that track.
“The model reveals that before restrictions were in place, daily growth rate of confirmed cases was at 33%.
"This has fallen in recent days to around 15%. But it is still growing and needs to fall further.
“It takes time to see the impact of our efforts in the numbers. It will be another 7-10 days before we have a reliable picture of how effective our collective efforts have been.
It was announced today that a three-month agreement has been reached for private hospitals to operate as public facilities.
Patients with COVID-19, as well as those who do not have the virus, will be treated at the hospitals.
