A further 48 coronavirus-related deaths and 1,254 new cases of the disease have been notified to the Department of Health.
The number of people with Covid-19 in ICU is 211 - five fewer than yesterday. There were 51 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours and as of 2pm today, there were 1,518 coronavirus patients in hospitals.
Of the deaths reported today, 45 occurred in January. The median age of those who died was 82 and the age range was 30-99 years.
A total of 3,214 people have died with Covid-19 in Ireland. The cumulative total number of confirmed infections is 193,892.
The 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population nationally is now 574.7. This is almost 50% lower than the same time last week (1,017.1).
Counties with the highest infection rates include Monaghan (1,223.4), Louth (889.9) and Waterford (788.5). Counties with the lowest rates include Leitrim (237.2), Roscommon (258.7) and Kerry (274.9).
Of the cases notified today 587 are men, 658 are women and 54% are under 45 years of age. The median age is 42-years-old.
There were 437 cases reported in Dublin, 146 in Cork, 76 in Meath, 69 in Wexford, 62 in Kildare and the remaining 464 cases are spread across all other counties.
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Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said if the level of suppression of coronavirus continues, there should be a drop in mortality rates in the coming days and weeks.
Speaking on RTÉ's Six One, he said there is clearly a plateauing of mortality rates resulting from the high level of cases seen in the latter days of December and in early January.
Dr Holohan said that data from the movement of traffic and mobile phones is giving a sense that over the course of the month of January there has been a very high degree of compliance that is being maintained.
However, he said it must be remembered that the patterns of this disease can change very quickly and while the levels of Covid-19 in the population, while significantly better than what they were two weeks ago, is still substantially above where it was at the peak in October.
He said that if the incidence of disease can be brought down to really low levels then it begins to enable NPHET to contemplate recommending the reopening of some of the really important public services that have had to be paused, such as the provision of education and essential health services.
Rise in the number of outbreaks in private homes
The latest report on Covid-19 outbreaks (defined as two or more cases) by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre shows that 268 occurred during the week ending 23 January.
There was a big rise in the number of outbreaks in private houses (69) compared to the previous week when just nine were reported. However, the overall number of outbreaks decreased by 23 compared to the previous week.
There were 20 new acute hospital outbreaks reported along with 27 nursing home and five community hospital/long stay unit outbreaks.
There were 31 residential institution outbreaks reported and 37 outbreaks associated with childcare facilities or with school children/staff.
There were 36 workplace outbreaks notified and of these, 11 related to food production, six in meat/poultry production and five in other food-production.
There were also six office-based outbreaks and 10 associated with the commercial sector.
Among vulnerable populations, the Traveller community was affected by 11 new outbreaks with two outbreaks in Direct Provision.
The latest HPSC outbreak update comes after Europe's medicines regulator recommended approving AstraZeneca and Oxford University's Covid-19 vaccine for people over the age of 18.
It is the third vaccine to be cleared for use in the European Union.
Also today, Johnson & Johnson said that its single-dose vaccine was 66% effective in preventing Covid-19 in a large trial against multiple variants across three continents.
Meanwhile a new experimental Covid-19 vaccine appears to offer strong protection in late-stage UK and South Africa studies, according to its manufacturer Novavax.
The protein-based vaccine candidate, called NVX-CoV2373, was shown to be 89.3% effective at preventing coronavirus in participants, the company said.
A further 22 people have died after testing positive for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland. Another 669 positive cases of the virus were also reported there.
Separately, the Department of Education has written to schools today to confirm that the current school closures will continue for the time-being, with no end date as yet in sight.
As the first month of remote schooling draws to a close, talks are continuing towards achieving a phased return of students, with priority for those with additional needs.
Talks on Leaving Certificate options are also ongoing.
