A further 1,066 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, along with three additional deaths.

This brings the total number of cases here to 54,476 and the total number of deaths to 1,871.

Of the 1,066 cases, 244 occurred in Dublin, 104 in Galway, 98 in Cork and 92 in Meath.

As of 2pm on Thursday afternoon, there were 313 people with confirmed COVID-19 in hospital, 37 of whom were in ICU. There had been 20 additional hospitalisations in the previous 24 hours.

The 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 of the population in the 14 days up to midnight on October 21 was 302.5 nationally. However nine counties were above this national average, with Cavan the worst affected, at 1,055.5 per 100,000, followed by Meath (659.9), Westmeath (417.9) and Monaghan (404).

The counties with the lowest 14-day incidence rate were Tipperary (120.3), Wicklow (127.1) and Waterford (173).

"The 14-day incidence was at three per 100,000 at the end of June. Today it is 302 per 100,000 population. The risk of you being exposed to COVID-19 is now 100 times greater than it was four months ago. Please limit your risk by staying at home and following public health advice," commented the deputy chief medical officer, Dr Heather Burns.

According to Prof Philip Nolan, chair of NPHET's Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, the reproduction number is currently 1.3-1.4 nationally.

"Our collective goal now is to suppress transmission of the virus and bring our case numbers to manageable levels. If we work hard together to get the reproduction number to 0.5, we should succeed in reducing cases to below 100 a day in six weeks time," he explained.

The chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, again called on people to stay at home except for essential work or exceptional circumstances.

"We are now in level 5 because the disease is at very serious levels in our country and posing a significant risk to public health.

"If you are a confirmed case, self-isolate at home. If you are a close contact of a confirmed case, restrict your movements at home. If you are experiencing symptoms or believe you are a close contact, restrict your movements and contact your GP," he said.

The entire country is now at level 5 of the Government's COVID-19 plan. For more information on level 5 restrictions, click here.