By Cillian Doyle.
The Deputy Chief Medical Officer says the Delta variant may be up to twice as transmittable as the virus we were dealing with this time last year.
Dr. Ronan Glynn says some parts of the country are more affected than others including Waterford, Donegal and Dublin.
631 Covid cases were reported yesterday - the highest figure since April 1st - with 50 people in hospital, including 15 in ICU.
He says there's been a concerning increase in hospitalisations over the past week and it's something they'll be monitoring closely.
"This increase transmissibility is now playing in the changing profile of the disease here."
"Over the past fortnight, our 14-day incidence has increased by 30% - our 5 day average of cases has increased from 300 to 500."
