The Department of Health has said it has been notified of 324 new Covid-19 cases and three additional deaths.
Today's figures mean there are now a total of 33,994 Covid-19 in Ireland and there have been 1,797 deaths related to the virus.
Of today's cases 167 are in Dublin, 42 cases are in Donegal, 34 in Cork, Monaghan accounts for 13 cases, 12 cases were reported in Kildare, 8 in Cavan, 6 in Limerick, 6 in Meath, 6 in Roscommon and 5 in Wicklow.
The remaining 25 cases are spread across the other 11 counties.
Community transmission has been identified as the cause in 81 of today's reported cases.
NPHET are monitoring the situation in a number of counties, including Louth, Waterford, Wicklow, Kildare, Cork and Galway, the Taoiseach has said | Read more: https://t.co/UAmtW7HL6H pic.twitter.com/FOAuZNxJRk
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 24, 2020
Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said public health officials were coming across more cases associated with close contacts of confirmed cases who are not restricting their movements.
He said last week 1 in 10 close contacts who had a test were found to be positive but that many of them had no symptoms.
Dr Glynn said we needed to remember that Covid-19 is highly contagious and that people can be infectious without symptoms.
"If you are a close contact of a confirmed case please follow the guidelines and restrict your movements for 14 days - do not go to school or work, do not have visitors to your home, do not go to the shop or pharmacy unless it is absolutely necessary."
Dr Glynn said the coronavirus situation broadly around the country is continuing to "evolve and deteriorate".
In the last 14 days, he said, more than 3,600 new cases have been reported.
94 people are in hospital and 16 in intensive care, while a further three deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
This brings the total number of deaths so far this month to 21.
'It is entirely to be expected' that we would see more cases among people in their teens and twenties, Dr Ronan Glynn has said, but encouraged younger people to 'make choices' to slow the spread of Covid-19 | Read more: https://t.co/UAmtW7HL6H pic.twitter.com/bWatqqRdBI
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 24, 2020
Meanwhile, the Government has agreed to impose further Covid-19 restrictions on Donegal.
The county is to move to Level 3 restrictions from midnight tomorrow. They will be in place for three weeks.
Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the next ten days are critical in the battle against Covid-19.
Chief Executive of the Health Service Executive Paul Reid said there is an increasing number of positive Covid-19 cases.
189 new cases of coronavirus were reported in Northern Ireland today, taking the total to 9,950.
There were no further deaths so the official Department of Health toll remains at 577. There are 41 Covid-19 patients in hospital, with 5 in ICU.
The rate of infection per 100,000 of population in Derry and Strabane over the past 7 days was 141.4 - the highest rate anywhere on the island of Ireland.
