A further 54 deaths from COVID-19 have been confirmed, along with 1,006 new cases of the virus.

Of the 54 deaths, 45 occurred in February, five in January and four are still under investigation.

This brings the total number of deaths here to 3,794.

Of the 1,006 new cases, 516 occurred in Dublin, 46 in Galway, 43 in Meath and 36 in Louth. The total number of cases now stands at 205,939.

As of 8am on Wednesday, there were 1,032 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in hospital, 173 of whom were in ICU. There had been an additional 40 hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of February 7, a total of 240,487 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered - 153,654 first doses and 86,833 second doses.

The 14-day incidence rate in Ireland up to midnight on February 9 was 312.1 per 100,000 of the population. However, 10 counties were above this, with Monaghan the worst affected at 623.9, followed by Waterford (435.5) and Carlow (407.5).

Meanwhile, the HSE has confirmed that following a recommendation by NPHET, close contacts of confirmed COVID cases will again be tested on two occasions - day zero and day 10.

As a result of the surge in cases in December, the testing of close contacts was reduced to just one test initially, before being temporarily dropped altogether. At that time, close contacts were advised to restrict movements for 14 days and contact their GP if they had symptoms.

The testing of close contacts resumed at the end of January, however those affected were still only tested once. Under NPHET's latest measures, if a person tests negative for COVID after their second test on day 10, they no longer have to restrict movements so long as they remain symptom-free.

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