A further 5,325 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the Republic, along with 17 more deaths.

This brings the total number of cases here to 113,322, while the total number of deaths now stands at 2,282.

Of the 5,325 cases, 1,931 occurred in Dublin, 767 in Cork, 323 in Kildare, 322 in Limerick and 238 in Donegal.

As of 2pm on Tuesday, there were 840 patients with COVID-19 in hospital, 76 of whom were in ICU. There had been an additional 102 hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

According to the Department of Health's chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, while we are now experiencing a "considerable surge" in COVID cases and related hospitalisations, "we can turn this around quickly if we stick to the measures we know worked last spring".

"We have seen some early progress in that the average number of contacts per case has been dropping in recent days, but we need to continue this effort to limit as much as we can our contact with other people in the days and weeks ahead.

"If we all stay home and keep to the public health advice, we can bring COVID-19 back under control, which ultimately will protect our essential services such as health and education, and most importantly save lives," Dr Holohan said.

The national 14-day incidence rate in the 14 days up to midnight on January 4 was 674.4, however eight counties were above this, with Monaghan the worst affected, at 1,243.

Wickow had the lowest 14-day incidence up to January 4, at 323.

Ireland is now is level 5 of the Government's COVID plan. For more information on this, click here.