People have been urged to reduce their social contacts this weekend to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
It comes after the Department of Health reported 127 new cases of Covid-19. The department has reported no further deaths associated with the virus.
It brings the total number of cases here to 28,578, while there have been 1,777 deaths.
Of the cases notified today 80% are under the age of 45.
Sixty-six are associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case, eight were identified as community transmission.
There were 52 cases in Dublin, 13 in Monaghan, nine in Tipperary, eight in Meath, eight in Wexford, eight in Roscommon and the remaining 29 are located in Carlow, Cavan, Clare, Cork, Galway, Kerry, Kildare, Kilkenny, Limerick, Longford, Louth, Offaly, Waterford, Westmeath and Wicklow.
Acting Chief Medical Officer, Ronan Glynn said an additional eight people were hospitalised in the past 24 hours with Covid-19.
"If cases continue to rise we will see an inevitable increase in the number of people hospitalised. We all have a role to play in preventing that from happening," he said.
Dr Glynn said this weekend was vital and that people had a part to play in reducing their social contacts.
"Please cut down the people you are meeting up with, and at most have six visitors to your home this weekend," he said.
Dr Glynn added that if people are meeting up they should meet up outdoors where possible, maintain social distancing and practice in good hand hygiene.
#covid19 update from Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn [for Subtitles/Closed Captions, tap the "cc" button]. pic.twitter.com/aDFwT81xSy
— Department of Health (@roinnslainte) August 28, 2020
"Do not drop your guard just because you are meeting people close to you. Remember that just because somebody looks and feels well, that does not mean they are Covid free," he said.
Another 85 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland, the Department of Health there has said.
It brings the seven-day total to 431. No new deaths were reported.
Meanwhile the number of people in hospital with Covid-19 is 30, an increase of two on the previous day.
The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 is still low in comparison with the figures seen earlier this year, but it has been rising steadily this week from 22 on Monday to 30 at 8pm last night, with 92 suspected cases.
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The number of people in intensive care units remains low, with five confirmed cases at present and nine suspected.
Ireland is currently seeing on average 120 new cases per day, with one in five occurring through community transmission.
The NPHET meeting was also told that the 'R' number, the rate at which the virus is transmitted remains above one.
NPHET decided not to recommend the early easing of restrictions in Co Kildare, nor did it recommend the immediate reopening of pubs that do not serve food.
An infectious diseases specialist has said a "collection of actions that are more nuanced" would be a better way of stopping the spread of Covid-19, as opposed to "blunt, unpleasant Phase Zero that was imposed in March".
Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime Professor Sam McConkey said case numbers of Covid-19 have risen "tenfold compared to a couple of months ago".
"There is a second ripple coming through in our communities over the last six to eight weeks, and we need to prepare for some decisive action," he said.
Irish 14-day incidence 12th in ECDC area
Ireland's 14-day incidence rate of Covid-19 ranks it joint 12th with Iceland of 31 countries, according to the latest data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
Ireland stands at 31.1 cases per 100,000 people, compared to 19.4 in Italy, 20.9 in Germany, 23.2 in the UK, and 75.1 in France.
Spain continues to have the highest infection rate across the EU/EEA and UK area, at 196.4 cases per 100,000.
The ECDC says that up to today, there have been 28,453 confirmed cases of the virus in Ireland. There have been 429,507 cases in Spain.
Just over a week ago, Ireland's 14-day incidence of cases stood at 25.4.
The ECDC and NPHET 14-day incidence rates can vary. The ECDC uses an estimated population for Ireland from 2019. There is also a time lag in cases notified to it.
59% of all new virus cases last week recorded in Dublin and Kildare
Latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show that Dublin and Kildare made up 59% of all new Covid-19 cases last week. Kerry, Leitrim, Sligo and Westmeath recorded no new cases in the same week.
The CSO's latest Covid-19 Insight Bulletin also shows that fewer than ten people died from the virus in the last eight weeks.
According to the CSO, which gathered data on Covid-19 in Ireland from 28 February to 21 August, more than 600 people have tested positive each week for the coronavirus in the last three weeks up to 21 August.
The figures show that the average number of contacts per positive case increased from less than three in May to more than six in August.
The median age of new positive cases last week was 30, the lowest since the records began.
While the total median age of people testing positive is 46.
Twenty-five more men than women have died from the virus up to the week ending 21 August and 65% of people who died from Covid-19 were 80 or over.
More than half, 53%, of all positive cases are linked to an outbreak and the highest number of confirmed cases is in the 25-44 age group.
For 14 weeks in a row, Mayo and Westmeath have recorded less than 10 new cases and for 15 weeks in a row, Leitrim and Longford have recorded less than 10 cases. It is the 16th such week for Kerry and 17th for Waterford.
In total, Dublin has recorded the most confirmed Covid-19 cases, with 13,041 cases, Kildare has recorded the second most number of cases with 2,173 and Cork has recorded the third most with 1,617.
The World Health Organization says data to date suggests 80% of Covid-19 infections are mild or asymptomatic, 15% are severe infection, requiring oxygen and 5% are critical, requiring ventilation.
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.
