Muireann Duffy

The Department of Health has been notified of 8,058 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday.

Of the total figure, 4,158 were confirmed by PCR tests, while a further 3,900 were registered on the HSE's antigen test result portal.

As of 8am on Wednesday, there were 593 people with the virus receiving treatment in hospital, 54 of whom were in intensive care.

In the seven days up to Wednesday, 102,631 PCR tests were carried out, with a positivity rate of 28.8 per cent.