A further 859 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the Republic, as well as four more deaths.

This brings the total number of cases here to 56,108, and the number of deaths to 1,882.

Of the 859 cases today, 192 occurred in Dublin, 148 in Cork, 58 in Donegal, 55 in Galway and 54 in Monaghan.

As of 3pm on Saturday, there were 315 people in hospital with confirmed COVID, 37 of whom were in ICU. There had been 16 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 23 was 302.9 nationally. However nine counties were above this national average, with Cavan the worst affected, at 981.9 per 100,000, followed by Meath (652.7), Westmeath (448.3) and Sligo (412).

The counties with the lowest 14-day incidence rate were Tipperary (122.8), Wicklow (143.2) and Kilkenny (180.4).

Speaking on RTÉ's Late Late Show on Friday night, the chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, said that he believed if people do what is asked of them now, they can look forward to a "decent Christmas", however he acknowledged that it will be different to Christmases people have had in the past.

He also said that he did not anticipate having to recommend a closure of schools after the current mid-term break.

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