Forty-seven more deaths related to COVID-19 have been confirmed, as well as 631 new cases of the virus.

Of the 47 deaths, 14 occurred this month, 18 occurred in February and 15 occurred in January. This brings the total number of deaths in the Republic to 4,499.

Of the 631 new cases, 247 occurred in Dublin, 50 in Kildare, 44 in Meath, 41 in Cork and 32 in Limerick.
The total number of cases now stands at 224,588.

As of 8am on Wednesday, there were 370 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in hospital, 92 of whom were in ICU. There had been an additional 31 hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

The 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 of the population up to midnight on March 9 was 162.5 per 100,000, however eight counties were above this figure, with Longford the worst affected (396.3), followed by Offaly (363) and Dublin (240.6).

As of March 7, 525,768 doses of the COVID vaccine have been administered, including over 375,000 first doses.

In a statement, the Department of Health said that its vaccination strategy is to "distribute all available vaccines as quickly as is operationally possible, prioritising those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19".

"Ireland's programme is only limited by supply, and the rollout plans must be flexible to accommodate unforeseen events, such as changes to supplies from manufacturers. Certain manufacturers have guided on maintaining a buffer of vaccines in order to ensure the availability of a second dose," it noted.

It said that currently, 95% of available vaccines are being administered within seven days of arrival in the country.

The department insisted that Ireland is "consistently ordering its full pro-rata allocation of vaccines available" and has also purchased vaccines "via all additional options in the EU process".

"Ireland has contracts in place for more than 18 million vaccine doses, sufficient to fully vaccinate 10 million people, subject to regulatory approvals and manufacturers' delivery commitments being achieved. The Department of Health continues to be fully engaged with the EU and our partners to ensure the equitable and timely supply of vaccines available to the EU," it added.