The number of deaths from COVID in the Republic has exceeded 4,000, after a further 57 deaths were announced.

This brings the total number of deaths here to 4,036.

Among the 57 additional deaths announced, 34 occurred in February, 21 in January, one in December and one in November.

A further 650 cases of the virus were also confirmed, bringing the total number of cases here to 211,751. Of these cases, 192 occurred in Dublin, 53 in Galway, 50 in Meath, 46 in Kildare and 46 in Cork.

As of 8am on Wednesday, there were 831 patients with confirmed COVID-19 in hospital, 154 of whom were in ICU. There had been an additional 49 hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.

As of February 14, a total of 271,942 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine had been administered - 180,192 first doses and 91,750 second doses.

According to the Department of Health's deputy chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, while the country has made "great progress", the situation "remains precarious".

"Almost 90% of cases in Ireland are the B117 variant. The increased transmissibility of this variant is apparent in the current profile of the disease in households, with one in three household contacts of a confirmed case testing positive for COVID-19.

"This underlines the need for people to exercise caution in households and other settings. In particular, people should isolate immediately on experiencing any symptoms and contact their GP," Dr Glynn said.

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