The top health officials of Ireland and Northern Ireland have urged people to follow public health advice over the Easter weekend, saying "there are much brighter days ahead".
In a joint statement, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn and Northern Ireland's Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride appealed to people not to let their guard down in the days ahead.
Today, the Department of Health has been notified of 18 further deaths associated with Covid-19.
It also reported 761 additional cases of the virus.
It brings the number of coronavirus-related deaths in Ireland to 4,705, while the total number of confirmed cases now stands at 236,600.
In a statement, the National Public Health Emergency Team said that 11 of the deaths happened in March, while seven occurred in February.
The average age of those who died was 81, and the age range was 59 to 95 years.
NPHET said that of the cases notified today, 383 are men and 373 are women. 72% are under the age of 45 while the median age is 33.
Most of the new cases are in Dublin with 372, and provisional data shows that 55 cases are in Meath, 43 in Cork, 40 in Kildare, 38 in Offaly and the remaining 213 cases are spread across 19 other counties.
NPHET said that there are 274 patients with Covid-19 in hospital, with 63 in intensive care. There were 18 additional hospitalisations in the last 24 hours.
The 14-day incidence rate of the virus per 100,000 now stands at 164.9. The counties with the highest rate of incidence are Offaly (509.2), Donegal (281.4) and Dublin (247.6).
The counties with the lowest rate of incidence are Kerry (24.4), Kilkenny (38.3) and Sligo (42.7).
The five-day moving average of coronavirus cases is now 536.
NPHET said that as of 29 March, 819,676 Covid-19 doses have been administered in Ireland.
It said that 590,688 people have received their first dose while 228,988 people have received their second dose.
In their joint statement, Dr Glynn and Dr McBride said: "Easter is a time when, traditionally, many of us spend time with our families and loved ones. Unfortunately, this Easter, we still have a very dangerous, very transmissible virus, circulating in our communities that continues to spread and cause serious illness and, sadly, death," they said.
"People in all corners of Ireland have continued to follow the public health advice by quietly taking all the appropriate actions to protect all of us from this disease. Most people are making a huge sacrifice and missing time with loved ones in order for us to stay on course with the public health guidance.
"We must ask that, once again, we work together to prevent a further wave of infection by celebrating this Easter safely. Please continue to stick with the public heath advice. Do not give this virus the opportunities it is seeking to spread," said the health officials.
"We have already seen the clear bonus that vaccinations are bringing with cases and deaths in nursing homes and hospitals and cases amongst healthcare workers falling dramatically across the island. There are much brighter days ahead.
"If we can stick with these measures, we can avoid another wave and all of us, together, will be able to look back as a society, and reflect proudly on how we came together to protect each other and save lives."
