Fewer than 1,000 patients are in hospital with COVID-19 for the first time in over month.
Figures released by the HSE overnight show there were 990 COVID-19 patients in Irish hospitals - the lowest it has been since early January.
Last night's figures show there were 167 patients being treated in ICU.
St James's Hospital in Dublin had the highest number of COVID-19 patients, followed by the Mater Hospital.
A further 1,006 new COVID-19 cases were reported last night, along with 54 deaths.
Consultant in Infectious Diseases at St James' Hospital in Dublin, Cliona Ní Cheallaigh, says the UK variant is having a big impact on cases and hospital numbers.
She said: "Something anecdotally we're seeing on the ground with this new variant - I've heard it from a number of hospitals, but I haven't seen any published data on it yet - is that people with this variant seem to be sicker for longer.
"Before, we would have seen people turning a corner within the second half of that second week... now we're seeing people who are much slower, or get sicker as they come to that second week of infection."
She says it's unlikely we'll reach 200 cases a day by the end of the month, due to the transmissibility of the new variant.
She suggested we could be 'stuck somewhere between 500 and 1,000' cases a day for a number of weeks.
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach has said almost one in four close contacts are testing positive for COVID-19 since testing resumed at the end of last month.
Micheál Martin told his party last night it compares to a positivity rate of 11% previously, and demonstrates the impact of the UK variant.
He also indicated to members that the country is to remain in a "prolonged" period of restrictions to get numbers to a very low level.
