There has been 1,173 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Ireland today
that's the highest daily case count since the end of January and almost 300 higher than Thursday.
this recent spike is partially caused by the Delta variant, despite vaccinations reaching the 5 million milestone earlier today.
Health minister Stephen Donnelly says this could put hospitals under major pressure.
"We're going to have to start building up additional surge capacity for ICU now, in case it happens," the minister said.
The latest available figures show there are 79 people in hospital with the virus - 23 of these are in ICU.
The Department of Health says these numbers may change due to a future data review.
