A further 1,283 cases of COVID-19 have been reported, along with three additional deaths.

This brings the total number of cases here to 49,962 and the total number of deaths to 1,852.

Of the 1,283 cases, 68% were under the age of 45, with a median age of 31.

Some 408 of the cases occurred in Dublin, 156 in Cork, 88 in Kildare, 80 in Meath and 55 in Limerick

As of 2pm on Sunday afternoon, there were 277 people with confirmed COVID-19 in hospital, 33 of whom were in ICU. There had been 17 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 17 was 251 nationally. However 11 counties were above this national average, with Cavan the worst affected, at 807.3, followed by Meath (488.6), Monaghan (374.7), Donegal (345.5) and Clare (322.3).

The 14-day incidence rate in Dublin was 224.6.

The counties with the lowest 14-day incidence rate were Tipperary (109.1), Wicklow (119.4) and Waterford (131.7).

NPHET has recommended that the entire country be moved to level 5 of the COVID-19 plan for six weeks. Speaking on RTÉ's The Week in Politics on Sunday, the Minister for Higher Education, Simon Harris, acknowledged that this is a "really anxious time" for people.

He said that the Government "will act" on Monday and this action "will be decisive and will be right across the country - it will be nationwide action".

"It is clear now that the virus is at such a level within all of our communities, a county-by-county approach will not be sufficient, so we will have to bring in more restrictions.

"Level 3 has not worked in terms of getting the virus to where it needs to get to and the trajectory of this virus is what is really concerning our health officials," he said.

For more information on the restrictions currently in place where you live, click here.