The Department of Health has reported 994 new cases of Covid-19.

There are 80 patients in hospital with the disease of whom 22 people are in ICU, this is two more than yesterday.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, said: "More than 70% of the adult population have had at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine and almost 60% of adults are now fully vaccinated.

"This is of course good news and a great cause for hope. However, there is still a significant cohort of the population who are not yet fully vaccinated, or as is the case with children, for whom vaccination is still a little way off and subject to future guidance.

"People who are unvaccinated, including children, should continue to avoid high-risk, uncontrolled indoor settings. That includes indoor hospitality.

"I know this is a difficult message for people, particularly parents of unvaccinated children to hear, but if we stick with the public health measures, we can limit transmission of this disease and protect others."

Dr Holohan continued: "We continue to keep all of the public health guidance under review. That includes all elements of the further reopening of society and looking forward to September and a return to education for students.

"In the meantime, avoid crowds, wear a mask, manage your contacts, keep your distance, meet outdoors where possible, and, if indoors, ensure that the room is well ventilated."

Earlier, Health Service Executive chief Paul Reid urged the public to be "extremely cautious and protective over next few weeks".

Speaking at a media briefing, he said the HSE is on a "higher alert" due to rising case numbers and hospitalisation figures, adding that a surge in cases is already happening.

Mr Reid referenced what he called a "wedge of weakness" that he said the Delta variant "will exploit".

"What I mean by the wedge of weakness is the gap between those adults who are fully vaccinated and those who we don't have fully vaccinated."

Paul Reid said the "good news" is that the "vulnerability" to Delta has been reduced by the administration of five million vaccines.

He said the "challenge" remains to have the remainder of adults vaccinated, adding that "our only constraint will be supply".

On the vaccination programme, Paul Reid said the uptake "remains strong overall" with 99% of people over the age of 80 having taken the vaccine.

He said there is a 98% up-take in the age group of 70-79, 94% between 60-69, 91% between 50-59, and 84% between 40-49.

He said the HSE exceeded its target of administering 300,000 doses last week by an additional 38,000.

This week, the HSE is on track to deliver another 300,000 doses with 150,000 doses administered by the end of yesterday evening.

A further 300,000 doses will be administered next week.

Paul Reid said that the average age of new cases over the past 14 days is 27 years old.

"This compares to an equivalent age of 40 during the peak in January. Approximately 40% of cases occurring in people aged 45 and over during the same time."

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Dr Ray Walley, meanwhile, has warned people about becoming "complacent" about Covid-19.

Speaking to RTÉ's Drivetime, the GP said he believes people "have become comfortable" with the pandemic.

He said an increasing number of patients are not following the public health guidelines for self-isolation or restricted movements.

"I think people have become complacent people have become comfortable with the Covid pandemic," he said.

"This is still a serious illness. When people get it there is evidence that 10% can get chronic Covid or long Covid and that in itself is a debilitating illness."

Dr Walley said people who have been vaccinated, as well as healthcare workers, are contracting Covid.

82% of HSE servers decrypted after cyber attack

The Chief Operations Officer of the HSE has said 82% of servers (more than 400,000) have been decrypted and 83% of end-user devices (more than 69,000)

It is now 62 days since the cyberattack on the HSE, and Anne O'Connor said all sites now have functioning applications for patient management services.

Fifty-five sites have functioning diagnostic imaging services, with three sites have limited levels of functioning.

Eighteen endoscopy sites are operating, while 19 have a limited operational status.

Endoscopy procedures can still continue, although there are "challenges".

"We're not back to business as usual yet. The integration of all our services isn't quite there yet," she said.

Emergency department attendance is above 2019 and 2020 levels, she said.

Ms O'Connor said despite ED attendance increasing, the rate of discharges has also increased and as a result the overall rate of admission has not gone up.

She said admissions are down 8.7% on last week and that there is a high rate of attendance and admission in the over 75 age group.

Ms O'Connor said there were 183 people on trolleys at 8am this morning, which is "significantly better" than the 2019 figure (39% reduction).

She said it would be a "concern" for hospital capacity if there was an increase in "Covid activity on top of increased activity levels".

Anne O'Connor said if numbers in hospitals continue to rise "we would have to defer care again".

Over 20,000 Covid tests being conducted each day

Niamh O'Beirne, HSE’s National Lead for testing and tracing said 19% of close contacts are not being tested due to them being vaccinated.

She said this will grow as more people are vaccinated.

Ms O’Beirne said "we are seeing more travel cases, with people coming from holiday destinations like Spain, Portugal and the UK".

She said the level of swabbing capacity will increase from 25,000 per day to 30,000.

Niamh O'Beirne said there are still over 900 staff are working in contact tracing.

She said as cases rise, "as we did at Christmas, we can adapt the call length, we can adapt the number of calls we do, and we can employ digital channels" to support the contact tracing team.

On the further roll-out of antigen testing Ms O’Beirne said antigen tests will be used "for close contacts".

"Over the coming weeks we will use four tests per person. We will explain on our website, exactly how we will work on through the contact tracing network but they will be available in our testing sites.

"In addition, we are going further and pilots with antigen testing on working with a number of government departments, particularly in the education space. This will start into next week and the following week."