Twelve more people with Covid-19 have died in Ireland, the Department of Health has said.
There have now been 1,583 Covid-19 related deaths here.
There have also been 76 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 24,391.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said: "We have experienced six consecutive days of under 100 new confirmed cases in Ireland.
"This is very positive and demonstrates the extent to which the public's actions have limited the spread of this disease. However, it is only through continued commitment to hand washing, respiratory etiquette and physical distancing that we will remain successful in suppressing the spread of Covid-19 through the community."
Asked about concerns that some people are not social distancing, Dr Glynn said it is important to reiterate that the vast majority of people are following the guidance and staying at home.
He said the reason any of us stick to these behaviours is for our own good, and for our families. Dr Glynn said it is within our own power to protect ourselves by hand washing and physical distancing.
In relation to testing, Dr Glynn said that there is not any specific plan to get to 100,000 tests a day, but that anyone who needs testing will be tested.
He said we are in a fortunate position that we have spare capacity, and the important thing is that we capitalise on that in the coming weeks.
Dr Glynn said the new testing strategy is now testing contacts of cases, and the reason for that approach is because they believe there is a significant number of people who have mild or no symptoms of the virus.
He said a paper, which will be presented to NPHET tomorrow, will discuss testing in nursing homes and testing of healthcare workers.
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, has described the indicators of Covid-19 as "very good".
Speaking at the daily press briefing Prof Nolan said "all of the major indicators are stable".
Hospital admissions to ICU are "very stable", he said, and Covid-19 related deaths are falling to an average of nine deaths per day.
Prof Nolan has said the positivity rate for Covid-19 tests averaged below 3% over the last five days.
He said the reproductive number for the virus has remained stable for the last three weeks, with a number of between 0.45 and 0.63.
He stressed that these figures relate to events that happened 10-14 days ago. He said it will take a week or two to detect any change in the reproductive number following the easing of some Covid-19 restrictions earlier this week.
On a potential second wave, Prof Nolan said a very low proportion of the population has been exposed to Covid-19 and as such there is no immunity to the virus in the population.
In relation to the risk of a second wave, Prof Philip Nolan says if reproduction numbers start to increase to 1.2, "we will be back to where we were by late June, early July at 4, 5, 600 cases per day" | https://t.co/Als7lL3bDy pic.twitter.com/086T6wALXI
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 21, 2020
Prof Nolan said for every 100 people, there are at least 95 who have never been exposed to the virus, and that if the virus begins to transmit again in the population, it will spread again.
He said right now there is not a high prevalence of the virus in the population, and that it really depends on people sticking to the measures in order for it to stay that way. He said this will keep the numbers suppressed.
Prof Nolan said the virus took off much more quickly in other countries than it did here. He said there was a lot to be said for how fast it was detected and dealt with here.
How quickly a virus spreads depends on a lot of things, he said, such as population density, how the virus is seeded and where it is seeded, as well as the age of the population.
Dr Glynn said it was very difficult to rate Ireland against other countries, as it was like comparing "apples with oranges", and said that it was not a measure of success given how testing regimes differed and the difference in the recording of mortality rates.
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Dr Glynn said NPHET will be looking at specific measures tomorrow that could ease the burden on children and parents.
He said there is a range of factors that need to be looked at in relation to this.
In relation to comments from the Taoiseach about fast-tracking some phases if the data goes in the right way, Dr Glynn said they will consider if something can be done at an earlier stage.
He said a roadmap is just that, and that what is set out is their best estimate based on evidence available at that point in time.
But, he said, as things stand today, he does not see how we can deviate from the plan as it is now.
Dr Glynn said there is no rule that says you cannot be in a room with someone for more than two hours.
He said the timeframe was being used as a general cut-off point as to who is close contact, if a case is identified among a number of people who had been in the same room/space.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn says there is no rule that says you cannot be in a room with someone for more than two hours, but all sectors should be trying to "limit face to face interaction as much as possible" | https://t.co/Als7lL3bDy pic.twitter.com/qtbjKDkNs7
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 21, 2020
Dr Glynn said the key message in relation to face coverings was that they were an extra measure, but that they are only as good, in terms of protection, if put on and taken off properly and used in conjunction with other protective measures.
He said for anyone who is concerned about others not wearing a mask, they should continue to focus on the measures for themselves such as hand washing and social distancing.
Dr Glynn said in the main the cases arising now are in relation to certain settings such as care homes and meat processing facilities.
The most recent data from the HPSC, as of midnight on Tuesday when there were 24,274 cases, shows that 57% of those infected are female and 43% are male.
The median age of confirmed cases is 48.
13% of cases - 3,183 - have been hospitalised.
Of those hospitalised, 392 cases have been admitted to ICU.
A total of 7,747 cases are associated with healthcare workers.
Dublin has the highest number of cases at 11,765 (49% of all cases), followed by Cork with 1,386 cases (6%), and then Kildare with 1,381 cases (6%).
Where the transmission status is known, community transmission accounts for 60% of cases. Close contact of a confirmed case accounts for 37%, and travel abroad accounts for 3%.
Meanwhile, there have been a further seven coronavirus-linked deaths in Northern Ireland, taking the total there to 501.
Three of the deaths occurred within the past 24 hours while the remaining four were previously unreported.
There are 42 new Covid-19 cases in Northern Ireland, taking the total to 4,481.
