A further 687 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, brining the total number of cases in the Republic to 220,273.

One more death was also confirmed. This death occurred in January and the total number of deaths here now stands at 4,319.

Of the 687 new cases, 240 occurred in Dublin, 49 in Limerick, 44 in Offaly, 40 in Galway and 36 in Louth.

As of 8am on Monday, there were 540 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in hospital, 120 of whom were in ICU. There had been an additional 14 hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of February 26, a total of 426,070 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered - 285,780 first doses and 140,290 second doses.

According to the Department of Health's deputy chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, while the number of daily cases and the number of people in hospital and ICU remains high, "we continue to make progress".

"In the last 24 hours, we have had no new admissions to critical care, the first time this has happened since St. Stephen's Day. This is one more tangible signal of the efforts that people continue to make and how those efforts are impacting positively on the trajectory of COVID-19 in Ireland. Please stick with this over the coming weeks," he commented.

Meanwhile, data from the Department of Health, the Department of the Taoiseach and the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), has provided insight into how people are coping with the prolonged period of restrictions.

"The evidence shows that while people are finding it tough going, the large majority (79%) believe that preventing the spread of COVID-19 is more important than the burden of restrictions. Just 10% disagree.

"This pattern helps to explain how measures of compliance have been rising in recent weeks and months, despite the frustrations that people feel," explained Prof Pete Lunn, head of the ESRI's Behavioural Research Unit, who analysed the data.

He said that just because people feel a particular way, does not mean that this feeling dictates their behaviour.

"Rather, the large majority of people in Ireland support the restrictions and are sticking to them, despite the frustrations," he commented.

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