LATEST: 800 cases of virus detected in schools

A further 1,180 people have contracted the coronavirus, the Department of Health confirmed this evening.

There are now 362 people in hospital with the virus, with 59 in ICU.

The latest figures were confirmed as HSE chief executive Paul Reid said 89% of the adult population is now fully vaccinated, with over 92% is partially vaccinated.

In a post on Twitter, Mr Reid said that over 6.9 million vaccines have been administered so far.

Meanwhile Niamh O’Beirne, National Lead for Testing and Tracing for the HSE, confirmed that over the past week there has been 800 positive cases in school settings. The HSE is investigating close contacts of those cases, Ms O’Beirne said.

She added 500 of these cases are in primary schools and over 300 in secondary schools.