The acting chief medical officer has said there are many reasons to be hopeful this week in relation to COVID-19.

Two more deaths and 303 new cases of the virus were confirmed on Sunday evening. However, Dr Ronan Glynn pointed out that this is the lowest number of daily cases reported since mid-December.

Furthermore, Sunday also saw the lowest number of people newly hospitalised with COVID since the end of November.

"Last week also saw the millionth vaccine given and this week should see a step-change in the number of doses administered," Dr Glynn noted.

From today (April 12), all children are also returning to school. While primary school children and 5th and 6th year secondary school students had returned to school before Easter, 1st-4th years are returning for the first time since last December.

People can also travel freely within their own counties from April 12.

"If we can maintain this progress, vaccines and the basic public health measures with which we are all so familiar are our way out of this pandemic," Dr Glynn insisted.

He called on people to continue to work from home where possible and to avoid mixing indoors with people from other households. If you are meeting people outdoors, you should continue to physically distance, and you should only meet people from one other household.

Anyone experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19 should immediately isolate and call their GP to arrange a free test.

Of the 303 new cases of COVID reported on Sunday evening, 75% were under the age of 45 years. The median age of those affected was 32.

For more information on the number of people affected and the number of people vaccinated, click here.