A further 1,047 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the Republic, as well as 35 more deaths.

This brings the total number of cases here to 201,763 and the total number of deaths to 3,621.

Of the 35 additional deaths, the median age of those who died was 84 years and the age range was 63-96.

Of the 1,047 cases, 292 occured in Dublin, 119 in Cork, 76 in Wexford, 60 in Limerick and 47 in Kildare. The median age of those affected was 38 years.

As of 2pm on Friday, there were 1,221 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in hospital, 181 of whom were in ICU. There had been an additional 51 hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

The Department of Health's chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, reminded people that no single intervention "is perfect at preventing" the spread of the virus.

"It takes many different individual actions to slow down the spread of COVID-19. Every action you take is another layer of protection between you and the virus - the more layers you have the more protection you have.

"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 the virus," he commented.

Meanwhile, the first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine are due to arrive in Ireland this weekend. Over 21,000 doses are due and these will be administered to frontline healthcare workers from next week.

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