A further 1,456 cases of coronavirus were reported in the State on Saturday afternoon.
According to the latest figures, 261 people are in hospital with the disease, of whom 66 are in ICU.
The latest data follows confirmation from Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris that pop-up vaccination centres will open across many college campuses this month.
More than 83 per cent of people aged 16 to 29 have had their first dose, while 78 per cent are fully vaccinated, Mr Harris said on Saturday morning.
The temporary campus centres are “all about making it as easy as possible for every student & indeed staff member to avail of full vaccination & the protection that that provides”, he wrote on Twitter.
The pop-up clinics will be in addition to other vaccination centres already operating at some campuses for the general public, Mr Harris said.
Prior to the latest numbers being released, the chief executive of the Health Service Executive (HSE), Paul Reid, said on Saturday morning that the number of patients being treated in intensive care units had risen to 71 from 58.
Unvaccinated
A “hugely disproportionate number” of these patients are unvaccinated, he wrote on Twitter, adding: “It’s never too late to be vaccinated & our commitment stands to never leave anyone behind”.
Hospitalisations, however, had reduced to 261 on Saturday from 310 a week previous and a potential fourth-wave peak of 384 on September 6th.
On Friday the Taoiseach praised the “huge effort” of the public and all involved in the vaccine rollout, as Ireland became the European Union State with the highest proportion of fully vaccinated adults.
With 90 per cent of people aged 18 and over vaccinated, Ireland is trailed by Malta (89.9 per cent), Denmark (87.6 per cent) and Portugal (87.3 per cent), according to figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).
At the other end of the scale, just 21.7 per cent of adults in Bulgaria are fully jabbed, while 32.8 per cent of the adult population in Romania have completed their vaccination course.
In Northern Ireland, the latest rules for international travel will change in from October 4th, with a single red list and a “simplified process” for the rest of the world.
Proposed changes to pre-departure and post-arrival testing for travellers are under consideration and will be discussed by Executive ministers next week.
The changes come following a meeting of UK government ministers.
The new travel framework is to simplify the current process, a statement from the Northern Ireland Executive said.
Changes are also being made to the red list, with a number of countries, including Turkey, Egypt and the Maldives, removed from it from September 22nd.
Anyone travelling from the EU and the USA who are fully vaccinated will no longer have to self-isolate or undertake a day eight PCR test.
From October 4th, fully-vaccinated travellers from a number of countries, including Canada, Australia, Israel and New Zealand, will be included in the policy.
In addition, six further deaths of patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 have been reported in the North.
The Department of Health said there has also been 1,072 new confirmed cases in the last 24-hour reporting period. A total of 2,505,003 vaccines have been administered. – Additional reporting from PA
