There have been nine further deaths of people with Covid-19 and 379 new cases of the virus confirmed by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet).

This brings the number of people who have died with Covid-19 in Ireland to 4,929, while the total number of infections in Ireland now stands at 253,567.

There have been 171 new cases confirmed in Dublin, 27 in Donegal, 28 in Kildare, 24 in Limerick, 22 in Cork and the remaining 107 cases are spread across 18 other counties.

As of 8am today, there were 117 Covid-19 patients in Irish hospitals, of which 34 are in ICU. There have been four admissions to ICUs in the last 24 hours.

The national 14-day incidence rate has dropped slightly to 128 cases per 100,000 people.

Of the cases notified today; 190 are men and 185 are women; 77pc are under 45 years of age and the median age is 29 years old.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said this week is “a hopeful week and one that we have all been looking forward to”.

“We have gotten to this point by working together in following the public health advice and reducing incidence of disease in our communities.

“The two primary targets as we try to exit the pandemic are vaccination and low transmission. If we can keep cases low and continue to vaccinate as many people as possible, we will find ourselves in a very different risk environment where we can see further easing of measures.

“Our task now is to keep the disease under control by following the basic measures and taking up our vaccine when it is offered to us,” Dr Holohan said.

More than 1.8m doses of a Covid-19 vaccine have been administered, while over 500,000 people are now fully vaccinated, according to latest HSE data.

1,347,561 people had received at least one dose as of Sunday, May 9.

A decision by the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (Niac) on whether the age limit for the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be lowered is expected this week.

Up to 200,000 45-49 year-olds could be fully vaccinated with the J&J vaccine alone in June should the advice on the one-shot vaccine change.

The HSE is believed to be asking if the age restriction around the one-shot vaccine can be lowered from 50 to 45.

The move would accelerate the vaccination roll-out and help ease the way for more significant lifting of restrictions over June and July.

More to follow...