There have been two further deaths related to COVID-19 and 511 new cases confirmed this afternoon by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).

The number of coronavirus-related deaths has now risen to 4,715, while the latest figures bring the total amount of cases here to 237,695.

There are currently 242 people receiving treatment in hospital for the virus. Of those patients, 65 are in ICU, up from 62 yesterday.

Health officials did not provide a county-by-county breakdown of the figures today.

The 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 of the population now stands at 167.

The five-day moving average is 528, while the seven-day incidence is 541.

As of March 31st, 865,460 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in Ireland.

619,003 people have received their first dose, while a second dose has been given to 246,457 people.

Variants not linked to travel

It comes as a senior member of NPHET has confirmed that COVID-19 variants with no link to international travel have been detected in Ireland.

Dr Mary Favier, former President of the ICGP and member of NPHET, said that while variants with no link to travel have been detected in "very small numbers", their discovery is still concerning.

She told Newstalk Breakfast: "The National Virus Reference Laboratory are doing a very good job, they're checking for variants in many, many samples and some of them have been found in very small numbers that are associated with people who have not had any travel background.

"There's a lot of extra work going into that and that's the big area of concern."

Dr Favier said the numbers "can be counted on one hand" and are very small, but nonetheless the discovery is "a marker and we need to be vigilant about it".

Main image: Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health. Photo: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie