There have been 69 more cases of the coronavirus and five deaths recorded in Ireland.
However, four of these deaths are late notifications and took place in April and June.
There are now 26,372 cases here and 1,768 deaths.
Of the cases notified today:
- 37 are men / 31 are women
- 65% are under 45 years of age
- 39 are confirmed to be associated with outbreaks or are close contacts of a confirmed case
- Two cases have been identified as community transmission
Twenty-two cases are located in Offaly, 19 in Kildare, eight in Laois, six in Dublin, and 14 are spread across eight other counties.
These are Clare, Cork, Donegal, Galway, Limerick, Louth, Meath and Wexford.
Dr Ronan Glynn, Acting Chief Medical Officer, said: "Over the past fourteen days, 226 cases have arisen in Kildare, Laois and Offaly.
"These represent almost half of all cases in Ireland over that time period.
"While the majority of these cases can be accounted for by outbreaks, this volume of cases is significant and our main priority now is to ensure that these outbreaks do not lead to widespread community transmission in the region.
"NPHET continues to monitor the situation closely.
"I urge people in these counties to remain vigilant to stop the further spread of COVID-19 in these areas."
"Serious concern"
Professor Philip Nolan, Chair of the NPHET Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, said: "We have seen a significant increase in the incidence of COVID-19 over the past week.
"The reproduction number for the virus is now estimated to be 1.8.
"A reproduction number of almost two is a serious concern, and although we have not yet seen a significant increase in community transmission, there is a significant risk this could develop over the coming days and weeks emphasising the need for each of us to be extremely cautious that we do not contribute to the transmission of the virus."
And Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer at the HSE, added: "Public health teams have been informed of the locations of these outbreaks as is routine and contact tracing and testing is taking place as appropriate.
"Our focus now is on controlling these outbreaks and taking action as necessary.
"We also need people to continue to follow our public health advice and avoid crowds, especially indoors, and limit the number of people you meet.
"The Department of Health and HSE launched the next phase of our communications campaign today encouraging people to keep up the protective behaviours of physical distancing, washing our hands regularly, wearing a face covering where appropriate and downloading the COVID-19 Tracker app".
