A further 720 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the Republic, as well as five more deaths.

This brings the total number of cases here to 58,767, while the total number of deaths is now 1,890.

Of the 720 confirmed cases, 228 occurred in Dublin, 130 in Cork, 47 in Galway, 31 in Meath and 27 in Limerick.

As of 2pm on Tuesday, there were 341 people in hospital with confirmed COVID, 38 of whom were in ICU. There had been 29 additional hospitalisations in the previous 24 hours.

The 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 of the population in the 14 days up to midnight on October 26 was 307.6 nationally. However 10 counties were above this national average, with Cavan the worst affected, at 962.2 per 100,000, followed by Meath (662.9), Sligo (439.5) and Westmeath (438.2).

The counties with the lowest 14-day incidence rate were Tipperary (133.5), Wicklow (142.5) and Kilkenny (175.3).

While the number of confirmed cases has been falling in recent days, the chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, said it is too early to draw any conclusions from this.

Meanwhile in Northern Ireland, a further 722 cases of the virus were confirmed on Tuesday, as well as 13 more deaths. This brings the total number of cases in the North to 35,554 and the total number of deaths to 671.

The entire country is now at level 5 of the Government's COVID-19 plan. For more information on level 5 restrictions, click here.