AS the country prepares to enter into Level 3 restrictions from tomorrow, the number of newly diagnosed cases of Covid-19 has risen above the 300 mark for the first time in several days.
Senior public health officials confirmed that an additional 306 cases were notified since midnight and that brings the total number of infections since the outset of the pandemic to 72,544.
The number of new cases in Kerry today is reported to be less than five with two more confirmed yesterday.
One further death has been reported nationally today and that sees the number of fatalities rise to 2,053.
Early this afternoon, 244 patients were being treated in hospitals for coronavirus related complications with 31 in intensive care units. There have been three additional hospitalisations in the past 24 hours.
Of the cases notified today,156 are male and 148 are female with 67 per cent under 45 years of age. The median age of those infected is 35.
108 of the latest cases are in Dublin, 30 in Limerick, 22 in Galway, 17 in Donegal, 15 in Wicklow and 14 in Cork with the remaining 100 cases spread across 18 other counties, including Kerry.
Nationally, the worst affected age group since the pandemic began is the 15-24 category with a total of 12,646 known cases.
That is followed closely by the 25-34 category with 12,142 cases and the 35-44 grouping with 11,332.
The 45-54 age group has seen 10,924 infections, the 55-64 category is at 7,737 and the 65-74 age group has 4,144 known infections.
In the older categories, 3,652 of those infected were aged between 75-84 and 3,191 were aged over 85.
In the younger age groups, 4,560 of those diagnosed were between five and 14 and 1,865 victims were under four years of age.
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