Close contact testing resumes today, after it was suspended at the end of last year.
1,466 new cases of the disease were confirmed yesterday - along with 47 further deaths.
There were 1,548 patients with Covid-19 in public hospitals last night, with 216 of those in ICU.
Meanwhile Wicklow’s Sinn Féin TD, John Brady has raised concerns following reports of serious outbreaks of Covid-19 at a number of residential homes here in Wicklow.
He says in one facility alone, ten out of twelve residents tested positive for the virus. A further three coronavirus deaths occurred in another home. Deputy Brady says Management of the Sunbeam House Services have also reported that a further thirty staff are either on sick leave or self-isolating due to close contact.
John Brady says people believed mass infections in residential homes around the country had been brought under control, but delays in rolling out a vaccination programme will only see a resurgence of cases .