Mayo now has Ireland's second highest virus infection rate

The Health Protection Surveillance Centre has tonight reported 23 additional deaths from Covid-19 and 1,378 new confirmed cases.

The new cases include 40 in Mayo, now with 1,726 over the past two weeks.

The county has the second highest 14-day infection rate in the country of 1232.5 - above the national average of 840.7.

Only Monaghan has worst statistics than Mayo.

The CSO has confirmed that 80 virus-related deaths have occurred in Mayo since the outbreak of Covid-19 up to January 15 last.

Of the other new cases tonight 379 were reported in Dublin, 145 in Cork, 86 in Wexford, 85 in Galway, 71 in Limerick and 612 cases are spread across other counties

Hospitalisation remains very high with 1,931 people in hospital with Covid-19.

There are 218 patients are in ICU.

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, said: "While we are starting to make progress in reducing the level of the virus this is a critical time for all of us to hold firm to the public health advice

"We must not let down our guard against this highly infectious disease".