There have been 12,508 new Covid-19 infections reported in Ireland today.
These include 5,381 PCR-confirmed cases while 7,127 positive antigen tests have been logged on the Health Service Executive portal.
This compares to a total of 14,549 new infections yesterday.
As of 8am today, 1,610 patients with coronavirus are in hospital of whom 49 are in ICU.
It comes as Taoiseach Micheál Martin confirmed in the Dáil that pandemic emergency powers will expire at midnight tomorrow.
He was responding to Independent TD Mattie McGrath who said he had a petition with 3,000 signatures from people who wanted the powers ended.
"Are they finished, as was promised, and will they be gone?" he asked.
The Taoiseach responded the measures would "obviously" end because there had been no amendment put before the Dáil.
The Health (Preservation and Protection and Other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act 2020 was signed into law in March 2020 and extended until 31 March this year.
It gave Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly powers to make regulations to slow down the spread of Covid-19.
Under the legislation, he could make regulations to restrict travel to and from Ireland and restrict travel within Ireland to stop people moving to and from affected areas.
It also gave the minister power to stop gatherings of people from taking place and to make organisers of these gatherings put in safeguards to prevent the virus from spreading.
The powers also included making businesses (such as shops) set up safeguards to protect their staff and customers along with measures to close premises, including schools.
Most of the restrictions had been dropped but people are still advised to wear face masks on public transport and in healthcare settings.
Meanwhile, an emergency medicine consultant has warned that the effects of the long St Patrick's weekend have yet to be seen on Ireland's Covid figures.
However, Dr Emily O'Connor - based in Dublin's Connolly Hospital - added that "thankfully the weather was very good so most people were outdoors".
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, she warned that a wet Easter weekend with people celebrating indoors could "well cause problems".
Dr O'Connor added that if a return to mask-wearing could bring this wave of Covid to an end sooner rather than later, then it would be a minor inconvenience for people.
She added that she has worked some of the worst shifts of her career in the last few weeks and that she, and a number of colleagues, have recently contracted the virus.
"The problem is that four out of six of us consultants in Connolly and emergency medicine caught Covid last week," Dr O'Connor said.
"I can't begin to tell you how much that decimates a system which can't reduce its inflow of patients."
Dr O'Connor added that GPs have also been overwhelmed with Covid care and patients are reporting difficulties in gaining access to their GP in a timely fashion.
She said the numbers in emergency departments are currently "enormous'"and there is little capacity to deal with this.
"We have very little capacity to cope with the surge like this - both in staff sickness and in attendances that that's happening at the moment," Dr O'Connor said,
She added that the effects of the long St Patrick's weekend are yet to be seen, but added that "thankfully the weather was very good so most people were outdoors".
She warned that a wet Easter weekend with people celebrating indoors could "well cause problems".
Meanwhile, Minister for Housing Darragh O'Brien told the same programme that Covid is discussed every single day within Government.
He was reacting to reports that the pandemic was not discussed by the Cabinet at yesterday’s meeting.
Covid "wasn't specifically on the agenda, but Covid is discussed every single day within Government," he said
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and the office of the Chief Medical Officer "are really working closely together and collaboratively and setting up the Covid advisory group to provide ongoing information and advice, Mr O'Brien said.
"The track record of Government in dealing with Covid, I believe, it does stand up to scrutiny and continues to do so," he said.
Mr O’Brien does not think people "need to be told through legislation" to wear masks in crowded settings.
Additional reporting: David Murphy
