Four more people with Covid-19 have died in Ireland bringing the overall death toll to 1,547.
88 more cases of the coronavirus have also been diagnosed in the Republic, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 24,200.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said two of the four deaths happened over the weekend.
He said the other two deaths happened in April.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan says there are 459 virus clusters in residential care facilities, an increase of 20 since last Friday | Live updates: https://t.co/LndwHgYx3o pic.twitter.com/35G2X4rlbf
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 18, 2020
Dr Holohan said that 391 patients had been admitted to intensive care units to date. There are 51 patients currently in ICU, he said.
This is down from a peak of around 160 patients in ICU earlier in the health emergency here.
The number of residents of nursing homes that have died from the virus is now 843, and there have been 258 clusters in nursing homes involving 4,820 cases, Dr Holohan added.
He said he was concerned that there was an increase in the percentage of people surveyed (from 43% to 46%) who felt that the worst of the virus was behind us and he said it was important to continue the good work and keep up the high standards of behaviours - such as handwashing and social distancing - which will keep the virus suppressed.
He said that increased percentage gave him "some cause for concern and we need to keep an eye on this".
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan urges people to continue the high standard of compliance with measures, and says the figure of 46% of people believing the worst is behind us is cause for concern | Live updates: https://t.co/LndwHgYx3o pic.twitter.com/ugAoEi8T4O
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 18, 2020
Dr Holohan said he is hopeful we will get to Phase 2 on further easing of restrictions on 8 June.
He said up to now we have seen "very high levels of compliance, we've somehow slipped a little bit but overall, the population in spite of the enormous economic and social impact ... have maintained a very, very high level of compliance with the public health advice".
He said this is true by international standards and that people in Ireland have kept up a very high level of compliance "in comparison with other countries".
Dr Holohan said if a GP is concerned about a patient, who does not strictly fit the case definition that currently exists, there is nothing to prevent a GP from making a referral for that particular patient.
His comments follow the addition of anosmia (the loss of taste and smell) to the list of symptoms for Covid-19 in the UK.
Dr Holohan said it seems to be "a particular feature of this illness" so he said he thinks they will give some consideration to making some technical adjustments but he said "they want to avoid giving GPs a new and different piece of guidance every day".
In Northern Ireland, six more people have died from Covid-19.
In total, there have been 482 recorded hospital deaths in relation to the coronavirus.
There are 16 new cases bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the region to 4,401.
Around 80% of cases of Covid-19 will be a mild to moderate illness, close to 14% have severe disease and around 6% are critical.
Generally, you need to be 15 minutes or more in the vicinity of an infected person and within two metres of them, to be considered at-risk, or a close contact.
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The first phase of the lifting of coronavirus restrictions got under way today, which saw businesses across the country reopening for the first time in weeks.
Queues formed outside some garden centres and hardware outlets, while electrical stores, farmers markets, opticians, hearing aid testing services and some sports facilities, including golf courses, also reopened.
However, some strict social distancing measures are in place at reopened businesses, with retailers reporting widespread compliance from members of the public.
Even though businesses are reopening, remote working is to continue for all workers or firms that can do so.
Among those who are returning to work for the first time in weeks are outdoor workers, including those employed in construction, as well as landscaping and gardening.
Read more:
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Meanwhile, gardaí have been instructed to wear face masks in situations where they cannot maintain social distancing and where they may be in close contact with someone for more than 15 minutes.
Garda Headquarters said gardaí on duty would wear the masks in enclosed situations such as in patrol cars, public transport, shops or someone's home.
Elsewhere, the number of people receiving the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment has fallen slightly by 5,000 to 584,600 over the last week, new figures show.
Of those, 7,000 are receiving the €350 weekly payment for the first time.
A further 214,700 people were receiving Jobseekers' Benefit of €203 a week at the end of April.
