4,163 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed this evening.
Latest figures show Carlow still has the highest 14-day incidence rates with 1-in-50 people it the county testing positive for the virus in the past fortnight.
There are 545 patients in hospital with the virus, down 33 from yesterday, while the ICU figure is unchanged at 117.
12 patients are being treated at St Luke’s Hospital for Carlow-Kilkenny, with 2 in the local intensive care unit.
Chief medical officer, Tony Holohan, says the situation has started to stabilise – but at too high a level.
The main difference between the 3rd and 4th waves of Covid-19 is the numbers of deaths, according to the HSE’s Director of Public Health in the South East.
46 people have died with the virus since June in the HSE south region in this 4th wave compared to more than 360 in the 3rd wave.
Carmel Mullaney has been updating the HSE South Regional Health Forum on the current situation.
Cllrs from Carlow, Kilkenny and across the south of the Country have heard that there’s been 12,500 cases of the coronavirus confirmed in the past month.
2,545 cases were found in Kilkenny which she says is starting to level off but the infection rates in Carlow are still increasing after 1,837 in the last four weeks.
Carlow has the highest 14-day incidence rates in the country at 1,983 cases per 100,000 people – which means almost one in every 50 people in the county tested positive for the virus in the space of two weeks.