No new deaths from COVID-19 have been reported in the Republic today, while 18 new cases have been confirmed.

This marks only the second time since March 21 that no new deaths have been reported. The first day was May 25.

The total number of COVID-related deaths in Ireland is 1,706, while there are now 25,321 cases of the virus.

According to data from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, of the 25,303 cases reported to it as of midnight on June 13, 3,278 cases have been hospitalised and of these, 417 have been admitted to ICU.

"An analysis of cases reported in the last 14 days tells us that the number of daily cases remains on a downward trend. This combined with hospitalisation and ICU trends indicates that the behaviours adopted by the general public continue to suppress the disease in the community," commented the Department of Health's chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan.

Earlier today, a new campaign aimed at encouraging more people to wear face coverings was launched (for more on this, click here). Commenting on this, the department's deputy chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, said that the message "is getting across".

"Based on our research to date, almost 1.7 million people are now reporting wearing face coverings in public places. This is an increase of 6% or almost 300,000 people in a week," he explained.

Phase 2 of the Government's plan for reopening society and business is now in place. For more information on this, click here.