There's a "clear change" in the way Covid-19 is spreading, with younger people now accounting for the vast majority of cases here.
All of the 23 newly-confirmed cases last night were people under 45 years of age, with 15 under the age of 25.
The National Public Health Emergency Team says people need to take immediate care and caution.
Acting Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, is appealing to younger people to be sensible if getting together this weekend;
"You can gather with six, ten, twenty friends, don't social distance, all of you could be seemingly healthy, it only takes one person in that group to be spreading Covid."
He has appealed to people to think twice; "all of the people in that group might be fine, perhaps no one will get unduly sick but you can not be sure that that won't be the case for all their families and their loved ones."
R-number
Meanwhile we're being urged to take immediate action again to cut down on the transmission of the coronavirus.
NPHET's Dr Philip Nolan says the reproduction of the virus in the Republic may be on the rise again.
The modelling team believes the "r-number" is greater than or equal to one, meaning everyone who catches the virus passes it on to at least one other person.
