The number of deaths from COVID-19 in the Republic has exceeded 3,000, the Department of Health has confirmed.

A further 90 deaths were reported today, brining the total number of deaths here to 3,066.

The median age of those who died was 83 years, while the age range was 48-99.

A further 928 cases of the virus were also reported, bringing the total number of cases here to 189,851. Of the 928 case, 257 occurred in Dublin, 115 in Cork, 71 in Louth, 53 in Galway and 45 in Limerick.

As of 2pm on Tuesday, 1,750 people with confirmed COVID-19 were in hospital, of which 216 were in ICU. There had been 65 additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

Reporting the 90 deaths today, the department's chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, said that the virus was having a "severe impact on the most vulnerable in our society".

"We must continue the good work we are doing to suppress it. The decline in daily incidence of COVID-19 has begun, however the volume of disease in our communities remains very high.

"To date we have reported 96,000 cases in January 2021, which has already passed the total of 93,500 cases reported in 2020. Indeed, public health doctors in the midlands reported a total of 4,000 cases in the first eight months of 2020 and another 4,000 cases in the first four weeks of 2021," Dr Holohan explained.

He said that the downturn in incidence has been achieved "through the determination of people across the country to stay at home, to work from home and to avoid meeting and socialising with others".

Meanwhile, Dr Holohan also noted that as a result of Ireland's enhanced public health surveillance programme, six additional cases linked to the Southern African variant of concern have been identified.

He said that all of these cases are being followed up by public health teams in line with the latest guidance from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Earlier, the Taoiseach, Micheal Martin, confirmed that Ireland will be remaining at level 5 restrictions until March 5 (for more on this, click here).