Sixteen more deaths related to COVID-19 have been confirmed, as well as 543 new cases of the virus.

Of the 16 additional deaths, three occurred this month, 12 occurred in February and one occurred in January. This brings the total number of deaths in the Republic to 4,534.

The median age of those who died was 88 years and the age range was 59-96.

Of the 543 new cases, 235 occurred in Dublin, 50 in Kildare, 39 in Donegal, 31 in Meath and 28 in Galway. The total number of cases now stands at 226,358.

As of 8am on Saturday, there were 340 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in hospital, 85 of whom were in ICU. There had been an additional 15 hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

The 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 of the population up to midnight on March 12 was 155.3 per 100,000, however eight counties were above this figure, with Longford the worst affected (437.9), followed by Offaly (351.5) and Dublin (234.4).

As of March 10, 570,391 doses of the COVID vaccine had been administered, including over 409,000 first doses.

For more information on the latest COVID figures in Ireland, click here.