A further 10 deaths from COVID-19 have been reported, as well as 1,062 new cases of the virus.

This brings the total number of deaths here to 3,317 and the total number of cases to 197,553.

Among the 10 deaths, the median age of those who died was 79 years and the age range was 45-101 years.

Of the 1,062 new cases, 335 occurred in Dublin, 137 in Cork, 73 in Wexford, 58 in Galway and 54 in Kildare. Almost 60% of those affected were under the age of 45.

As of 2pm on Monday, there were, 1,436 people with confirmed COVID-19 in hospital, of which 207 were in ICU. There had been an additional 38 hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

"While we have experienced very significant improvement in incidence over recent weeks, I am concerned that it appears to be slowing down at much too high a level of infection. People need to take real care in any setting in which they come into contact with others," commented the Department of Health's chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan.

He called on workplaces and retail settings to review their existing protocols in order to ensure that their staff and customers "are protected as much as possible".

"Given the prevalence of the B117 variant and how infectious it is, it is extremely important that people take all preventative measures possible, including staying home," Dr Holohan added.

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