A further 101 deaths from COVID-19 have been reported in the Republic - the highest daily figure to date. However, 83 of these deaths occurred in January.

This brings the total number of deaths here to 3,418.

Among the 101 deaths, the median age of those who died was 85, and the age range was 19-103 years.

A further 879 cases of the virus have also been confirmed, bringing the total number of cases here to 198,424. Of these cases, 383 occurred in Dublin, 79 in Cork, 53 in Galway, 40 in Limerick and 43 in Meath.

As of 2pm on Tuesday, there were 1,388 people with confirmed COVID-19 in hospital, 207 of whom were in ICU. There had been 45 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Commenting on the record number of deaths reported, the Department of Health's chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, explained that "the high mortality we are experiencing as a country at the moment is related to the surge of infection we saw several weeks ago and the hospitalisations and admissions to ICU that followed as a direct result".

"Although we have seen great improvement in the level of infection being reported, we have a long way to go and incidence needs to decline much further.

"The best way to honour those who have died from COVID-19, and those who loved them or provided care for them, is to follow the public health advice. Stay at home unless absolutely necessary, and encourage your friends, family and colleagues to do the same," Dr Holohan said.

More information on the latest figures in relation to COVID-19, including the number of people vaccinated so far, is available here.