One new death related to COVID-19 has been reported, along with 520 new cases of the virus.

This brings the total number of deaths in the Republic to 4,588, while the total number of cases now stands at 231,119.

Of the 520 new cases, 242 occurred in Dublin, 36 in Meath, 30 in Offaly, 29 in Kildare and 25 in Wicklow.

As of 8am on Monday, there were 359 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in hospital, 81 of whom were in ICU. There had been an additional 14 hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of March 19, 668,529 doses of the COVID vaccine had been administered. Over 181,000 people have received both of their two doses.

According to Prof Philip Nolan, chairperson of NPHET's Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, during the week March 7-13, 60% of disease incidence took place through close contact transmission and 24% took place in the community.

"Some 59% of transmissions are occurring in households. Outside of the household, almost half of transmissions are occurring in social gatherings and the workplace," he noted.

Meawhile, according to Dr Cillian de Gascun, director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, the B117 variant, which is Ireland's most dominant variant of COVID-19, "now accounts for more than 90% of our cases and is extremely transmissible".

"Public health advice aims to limit the opportunities this virus has to spread, and it should be noted that B117 does not need much opportunity to do so. The most effective way to stop the spread of this variant, and all variants of COVID-19, is to limit your social contacts and follow public health advice," he said.

For more information on the latest figures related to COVID-19, click here.