People who have Covid symptoms are being urged to isolate and contact their doctor immediately.
It has emerged that one out of every two people are taking three days or longer to come forward for testing after symptoms appear.
The Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn has said it is vital people come forward.
He also said there has been a big increase in a number of workplace outbreaks in the past four weeks compared to the end of 2020.
Meanwhile, the National Public Health Emergency Team has warned that the next few weeks will be difficult and that as case numbers fall below 1,000 per day, progress will appear to slow down.
The number of Covid-19 positive patients in hospital was down to 1,239 at 8pm last night, 38% below the peak in mid-January.
Of these, 183 patients were in intensive care units – down 17% from the peak 11 days ago.
Daily Covid-19 case numbers are halving every eight to 12 days.
HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid described it all as a steady improvement but warned it is going to take longer than predicted or wanted for some normality to return.
