There has been a slight decrease in the number of people in hospital with Covid-19, with 1,567 people currently receiving treatment.
217 people now in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in the Republic.
According to the HSE's daily Covid-19 operations update, as of 6.30pm on Thursday evening there were 27 adult critical care beds available in the public health system, with thirteen hospitals currently without a vacant critical care bed.
University Hospital Waterford, St. Lukes' in Kilkenny and South Tipperary General Hospital, each had no available bed for patients requiring critical care, while Wexford General has 2 adults beds available.
Six of the country's hospitals had two available critical care beds each, including University Hospital Limerick, Galway
Of the 343 critical care beds open and staffed yesterday evening, 325 were occupied.
Close contact testing resumes today, after it was suspended at the end of last year due to the high number of people presenting with Covid-19 symptoms.
It comes as 1,466 new cases of the disease were confirmed yesterday - along with 47 further deaths.
77 new infections were confirmed in Waterford - the highest case figure in the region yesterday.
It's followed by 52 new cases in Wexford, 33 in Carlow, 31 in Tipperary and 16 in Kilkenny.
