Senior health officials are meeting this morning to consider how any Covid-19 restrictions might be eased in two weeks' time.
There are now 15,652 confirmed cases here and 687 people have died.
A further 77 deaths were reported yesterday – the highest daily fatality figure to death.
But infectious diseases consultant Eoghan De Barra says the figure, while upsetting, isn’t as high as it seems.
"These 77 deaths were reported yesterday but actually occurred over the last ten days or so.
"Some of it's an artefact of the death rate reporting, and actually by day of death the death rate has continued to fall."
