Another 47 deaths from COVID-19 have been reported, along with 1,466 new cases of the virus.

This brings the total number of deaths here to 3,120 and the total number of cases to 192,645.

Among the 47 deaths reported, the median age of those who died was 85 years, and the age range was 55-99.

Among the 1,466 cases, 472 occurred in Dublin, 106 in Galway, 103 in Cork, 77 in Waterford and 70 in Limerick.

As of 2pm on Thursday, 1,567 people with confirmed COVID-19 were in hospital, of which 216 were in ICU. There had been 69 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

According to the Department of Health's chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, while incidence of the virus is falling, it still remains high.

"It is positive to see numbers of people hospitalised reducing and a stabilisation of numbers in ICU. However, we are continuing to experience high mortality, with 878 deaths so far in January.

"I am concerned about the high incidence we are seeing in long-term care settings and vulnerable groups. Our efforts to stay home and break transmission of the disease will save lives. Please continue to follow the public health advice and support each other to keep going," he commented.

According to the chair of NPHET's Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, Prof Philip Nolan, the R number currently remains below one.

"Incidence is falling and by working collectively to reduce contacts, we have achieved suppression of transmission, with the R number estimated at 0.4-0.7.

"We are maintaining an extraordinary effort, but still we have a long way to go. We must maintain full suppression for several weeks if we are to achieve strategic options for the future. If we keep this up, we would be down to 200-400 cases per day by the end of February," he explained.

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