Some of the country’s popular holiday destinations – Kerry, Waterford and Wexford – are the counties with the highest rates of Covid-19, according to the latest figures.
he lowest incidence was seen in Monaghan, Longford and Mayo.
It comes amid a rise in Covid-19 hospital admissions and an increase in the seven-day positivity rate.
There is concern that new variants of concern BA.4 and BA.5, combined with less frequent wearing of face masks and a return to regular socialising, could signal another Covid-19 wave although how big it would be is unclear.
The rate of infection is highest in those aged 35-44 followed by 25- to 34-year-olds and people aged 45-54, according to the late May report from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC).
On Sunday evening there were 243 patients with Covid-19 in hospital which compared to 192 on the same day the previous week.
The seven-day positivity rate for people having PCR tests stood at 16.7pc on Friday compared to 12.6pc a week earlier.
Only around half of patients with Covid-19 in hospital are there due to complications of the virus and the rest are being treated for other illnesses and are infected.
The numbers of Covid-positive patients in intensive care remains stable with 23 in critical care yesterday, up two from Sunday.
High levels of vaccination here continue to provide very good protection from serious disease.
In his update in mid-May, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said that BA.4 and BA.5 variants of concern, which are sub-lineages of Omicron and are circulating here, are easier to catch and also better at getting around immunity from natural infection and vaccines.
People aged 65 and older as well as people who are immunocompromised are being urged to avail of the offer of a second Covid-19 booster shot.
There will be no return to restrictions although the wearing of face masks in shops, public transport and crowded indoor settings is still encouraged while outdoors is still safer than indoors for meeting up.
Public attention continues to be drawn to the wearing of masks to protect other vulnerable people on buses, trains and other settings.
A snapshot report from the HPSC of children aged 12 and under attending hospital emergency departments, outpatient clinics, urgent care centres and who had GP-ordered blood tests found that between December 19, 2021, and January 22 last more than a third of primary school-age children had Covid-19 previously.
More than half of 18- to 19- year-olds attending the same services, whose samples were tested, had prior Covid-19 infection.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation has provided an update on the monkeypox virus, six cases of which have been diagnosed in Ireland.
It said many cases in this outbreak are not presenting with the classical clinical picture for monkeypox.
In cases described so far, common presenting symptoms include genital and peri-anal lesions, fever, swollen lymph nodes and pain when swallowing.
While mouth sores remain a common feature in combination with fever and swollen lymph nodes, the local rash appears first without consistently spreading to other parts of the body.
This initial presentation of a genital or peri-anal rash in many cases suggests close physical contact during sexual contact as the likely route of transmission, it said.
Some cases have also been described as having blisters appear before symptoms such as fever.
In this country all of those infected have been able to self-isolate at home and it is mostly a mild disease although it can be potentially more serious for pregnant women, children, older age groups and the immunocompromised.
