A further 772 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the Republic, as well as six more deaths.

This brings the total number of cases here to 61,059, while the total number of deaths is now 1,908.

Of the 772 confirmed cases, 228 occurred in Dublin, 120 in Cork, 50 in Meath, 41 in Donegal and 41 in Galway.

As of 2pm on Friday, there were 325 people in hospital with confirmed COVID, 42 of whom were in ICU. There had been 15 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 287.1 nationally. However 13 counties were above this national average, with Cavan the worst affected, at 669.5 per 100,000, followed by Meath (546.5), Westmeath (413.4) and Sligo (363.2).

The counties with the lowest 14-day incidence rate were Leitrim (121.7), Tipperary (132.2) and Wicklow (139.7).
The chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, said that overall, the situation has improved in Ireland, but he insisted that these are "still very early days".

"This improvement will only be maintained if we keep going in our efforts. We have to remember that incidence is increasing in older age groups, who are particularly vulnerable to this disease. The way in which we can protect them is if we continue to drive down transmission across the whole population," he noted.

According to Prof Philip Nolan, chairperson of NPHET's Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, the reproduction number of the virus "is now close to 1.0 nationally".

"This is the first time in a number of weeks that we have been able to report positive indicators of the disease. However, our experience to date shows this type of progress is very fragile.

"We should take these positive signs as an indication our efforts are starting to work, the critical thing now is to keep it up," he said.

Meanwhile, according to deputy chief medical officer, Dr Desmond Hickey, as of Friday, Ireland has seen a reduction in its seven-day incidence rate of 36% when compared to the previous seven days.

"Ireland's progress is notable when compared to the rapidly deteriorating picture across Europe. It is paramount that we sustain and continue to drive down disease incidence as much as possible in the coming weeks," he said.

For more information on level 5 restrictions, which apply to the entire country, click here.