LATEST: ‘Very worrying’ – almost 4,000 new cases of virus confirmed

A further 3,903 more people have contracted Covid-19, the Department of Health confirmed this evening.

There are now 463 patients being treated in hospital for the virus, a rise of five from yesterday.

Of these, 76 are being treated in ICU, a drop of 14.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan this evenig described the latest figures as “very concerning”.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin also acknowledged the numbers are “very high” at the moment and urged people to be conscious of their behaviour over the coming weeks.

“We are concerned about the rising case numbers but we are in a much different position that we were last year because of the powerful impact that vaccination has had,” the Taoiseach said.

“We always had a sense that this winter would be difficult.”