LATEST: Kilkenny among 349 new cases of virus as 18 further deaths confirmed

There has been 18 further coronavirus deaths reported among the 349 new Covid-19 cases confirmed this evening.

The overall death toll as a result of the virus has now reached 4,552. There have now been 227,663 confirmed cases of Covid-19 across the country, according to the latest daily briefing from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).

The breakdown of the latest cases is as follows: 156 in Dublin, 23 in Meath, 19 in Donegal, 15 in Louth, 14 in Kildare and the remaining 122 cases are spread across all other counties, once again less than five cases were recorded in Kilkenny.

As of 8am today, 360 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, of which 85 are in ICU . There have been 25 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of March 13, 615,934 doses of the vaccine have been administered in Ireland.