Eight more deaths from COVID-19 have been reported, as well as 309 new cases of the virus.

Of the eight deaths, four occurred this month, two in February and two in January or earlier. The average age of those who died was 79 and the age range was 43-92. There have now been a total of 4,820 deaths in the Republic.

Of the 309 new cases, 107 occurred in Dublin, 30 in Kildare, 21 in Meath, 14 in Offaly and 14 in Limerick. The total number of cases now stands at 242,402.

As of 8am on Thursday, there were 184 patients with COVID-19 in hospital, 51 of whom were in ICU. There had been 22 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of April 13, 1,094,964 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered. Over 325,000 people have received both of their two doses.

According to Prof Philip Nolan, chair of NPHET's Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, the incidence of the disease is falling in people of all ages, but particularly in those over the age of 65.

He also noted that healthcare workers accounted for between 5% and 15% of all COVID cases up until January, however this has now fallen to 2.5%.

Meanwhile, according to the HSE's national clinical director of health protection, Dr Lorraine Doherty, over 31,000 people have attended the HSE's walk-in testing centres in recent weeks, and 847 people across all age groups have been found to be positive as a result.

She also said that 19 cases of COVID-19 have so far been associated with mandatory quarantine hotels - one staff member and 18 hotel residents.

The acting chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, reminded people to continue to work from home if possible "for at least the next number of months, so that we have much higher levels of vaccination, and until we are very confident that we have avoided any further wave".