No new deaths from COVID have been reported on Monday, however 821 new cases of the virus have been confirmed.

This brings the total number of cases here to 210,402, while the total number of deaths still stands at 3,948.

Of the 821 new cases, 333 occurred in Dublin, 91 in Galway, 53 in Limerick, 41 in Kildare and 38 in Meath.

As of 8am on Monday, there were 916 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in hospital, 157 of whom were in ICU. There had been an additional 40 hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of February 12, a total of 265,237 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered - 175,238 first doses and 89,999 second doses.

The vaccination of people over the age of 85 who live in the community began today and according to the Department of Health's deputy chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, this marks "a significant milestone as we seek to protect the most vulnerable from this pandemic".

"It is an extraordinary testament to science that less than one year since our first case in Ireland, we are now in the process of rolling out three effective vaccines. The challenge now is to continue to suppress this disease so that as many people as possible can benefit from these vaccines over the coming months," he commented.

According to the national clinical director for health protection with the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, Dr Lorraine Doherty, around 72,500 people make up the over-85 cohort and they are all set to receive their first vaccine in the coming weeks

"This week, a total of 116 GP practices will participate in the rollout with an estimated 374 GPs taking part. Furthermore, some 2,491 GPs spread across 1,373 practices will administer vaccines to approximately 490,000 people over 70 years old in the weeks ahead," she explained.

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