There have been a further 5,883 cases of COVID-19 reported in Ireland.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) says it's been notified of 2,845 PCR-confirmed cases.
While a further 3,038 people registered a positive antigen test through the HSE portal yesterday.
As of 8.00am today, there were 1,182 COVID-19 patients hospitalised - of whom 58 were in ICU.
Meanwhile a major new study has confirmed that patients with the Omicron variant tend have different symptoms to those with Delta – and are sick for a shorter period of time.
The Lancet research shows that, while Omicron is much more transmissible than previous variants, it is also less severe - at least among people who are vaccinated.
Examining symptoms reported by thousands of COVID patients in the UK, researchers also uncovered the difference in symptoms between the two variants.
So how can you tell whether you had Delta or Omicron? The main difference lies in three symptoms.
- Loss of taste or smell was significantly less common among Omicron patients (16.7%) than Delta (52.7%)
- Sore throat was much more common among Omicron (71%) patients than Delta (63.4%)
- A hoarse voice was also more common among Omicron (42.8%) than Delta (39.6%)
