A further 35 deaths of people with Covid-19 have been reported in the Republic.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) also recorded an additional 1,047 confirmed cases of the virus.
The figures bring the total number of Covid-19 related deaths in the Republic to 3,621, and the total number of cases to 201,763 since the pandemic began.
Hospital Report
In a statement, the Department of Health said that of the 35 deaths, 29 occurred in February, with the other six having occurred in January.
The median age of those who died was 84, while the age range was between 63 and 96 years.
Of the cases reported on Friday, 292 were confirmed in Dublin, with 119 in Cork, 76 in Wexford, 60 in Limerick, 47 in Kildare and the remaining 453 cases were spread across all other counties.
As of 2pm on Friday, there were 1,221 Covid-19 patients in hospitals, of which 181 were in ICU. While the number of people in ICU decreased by seven, there were 51 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said no single intervention was “perfect” at preventing the spread of Covid-19.
“It takes many different individual actions to slow down the spread of the disease. Every action you take is another layer of protection between you and the virus – the more layers you have the more protection you have,” he said.
“Public health measures are based on this principle. Keep physical distance from others, wash hands regularly, avoid crowds, wear face coverings and vaccines all provide you with layers of defence against Covid-19.”
Meanwhile, the deaths of a further 16 people with Covid-19 have been reported in Northern Ireland.
Another 506 positive cases of the virus were also notified by the North’s Department of Health on Friday.
There are 636 Covid-positive inpatients in hospital, 67 of whom are in intensive care.
Earlier, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) released figures showing the number of weekly deaths registered with Covid-19 had fallen.
A total of 137 fatalities were mentioned on death certificates in the week to January 29th, it said said.
That represents a 25 per cent reduction on the previous week’s record of 182.
Some time may elapse between a death and it being formally registered.
That means the figures can be different from the total number of fatalities actually occurring in the same week.
Nisra said 124 deaths occurred during the same week to January 29th.
The total number of Covid-19 related deaths that occurred up to January 29th has reached 2,495.
Of those, 1,591 (63.8 per cent) took place in hospital, 712 (28.5 per cent) in care homes, 13 (0.5 per cent) in hospices and 179 (7.2 per cent) at residential addresses or other locations.
The 725 which occurred in care homes and hospices involved 170 separate establishments.
The comparative number of deaths reported daily by the North’s Department of Health to January 29th was 1,837.
These figures are based on patients having previously tested positive for the virus, whereas the Nisra figures are based on information entered on death certificates completed by medical professionals.
They may or may not have previously tested positive for the virus.
Separate Nisra analyses, based on the date of death registration, shows that the provisional number of total deaths from all causes registered in the week ending January 29th was 437 – 37 less than the previous week, and 78 more than the five-year average (2016-2020) of 359.
Northern Ireland remains under tough lockdown restrictions which have seen new Covid-19 infection case numbers drop from more than 1,000 a day to 506 announced on Friday.
Minister of Health Robin Swann has said the numbers need to be pushed down further as health workers remain under pressure during the second wave of the virus.
More than 250,000 people have received their first vaccine, First Minister Arlene Foster has said. – Additional reporting: PA
