Twenty-five more deaths related to COVID-19 have been confirmed, as well as 566 new cases of the virus.

This brings the total number of deaths in the Republic to 4,357 and the total number of cases to 221,189.

Of the 566 new cases, 233 occurred in Dublin, 37 in Kildare, 30 in Meath, 25 In Donegal and 24 in Westmeath.

As of 8am on Wednesday, there were 489 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in hospital, 114 of whom were in ICU. There had been an additional 29 hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of February 28, a total of 439,782 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered - 297,899 first doses and 141,883 second doses.

According to the Department of Health's deputy chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, "key disease indicators continue on a positive trajectory" as a result of the hard work and sacrifices people have made.

"However, we are still seeing outbreaks in the community, including those linked to extended families, workplaces and funerals. We need to keep up our guard against the B117 variant of COVID-19, which we know is dominant in Ireland at present and highly transmissible.

"Our willingness to stick with the public health advice in our daily routine has brought us the progress that we can see today. Together, through staying at home as much as possible, social distancing, hand washing and wearing face coverings, we can continue to drive down the spread of COVID-19," he commented.

More information on the latest figures in relation to COVID-19, including the number of people vaccinated so far, is available here.