A record 101 deaths from Covid-19 have been announced this evening.

83 of these deaths occurred last month, and 18 over the past 2 days.

Those who died were aged between 19 and 103.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan says the high mortality we're experiencing at the moment is related to the surge of infection we saw several weeks ago, and the hospitalisations and admissions to ICU that followed as a direct result.

Meanwhile, the number of cases of  the virus recorded this evening is 879, the lowest number of daily cases so far this year. 

53 of the new cases are in Galway, with 12 in Mayo, 8 in Sligo and less than 5 in both Roscommon and Leitrim.