and 4,319 deaths. covid-19 restrictions began to be eased throughout the summer, despite the arrival of the delta variant in june. by 24 june, 210 cases of the delta variant had been detected in ireland. fourth wave on 29 june, due to the rapidly increasing incidence of the delta variant, the government announced that the planned reopening of indoor dining and drinking in restaurants and pubs on 5 july would be delayed until at least 19 july when a system to verify vaccination or immunity would be implemented, while 50 guests would be permitted to attend wedding celebrations as an exception from july. cases increased again in july, which was caused by the delta variant. people who were awaiting full vaccination were urged to "take every precaution", with the highest cases among the 16–34 age cohorts, a significant shift from previous waves. on 17 july, a further 1,377 cases were reported, the highest recorded in six months. despite the increasing cases, the government agreed that indoor dining in pubs and restaurants could resume on monday 26 july for fully vaccinated and covid-19 recovered people, after president michael d. higgins signed the legislation underpinning new guidelines into law. on 14 september, chief medical officer tony holohan warned that new covid-19 restrictions could not be ruled out and "may be required in the future", despite very high levels of covid-19 vaccine uptake. daily cases began to surge again in october. a further 2,002 cases were reported on 8 october. remaining covid-19 restrictions, including the reopening of nightclubs and requirements on social distancing, mask wearing and vaccination certificates, were due to be eased on 22 october. on 19 october, the government announced that nightclubs were allowed to reopen on 22 october, but vaccination certificates, social distancing and mask wearing measures would remain in place. a further 2,399 cases were reported, the highest daily number since 22 january. on the day nightclubs reopened, a further 2,466 cases were reported, the highest daily number since 21 january. on 11 november, a 14-year-old teenager became ireland's youngest person to die with covid-19. 5,483 cases were reported the next day. a further 5,959 cases were reported on 20 november. on 27 november, the nphet epidemiological modelling advisory group began meeting to monitor the omicron variant situation in europe, and began considering further required measures. on 30 november, a further 5,471 cases were reported, bringing the totals to 570,115 cases and 5,652 deaths. on 1 december, the omicron variant arrived in ireland. on 3 december, covid-19 restrictions were re-imposed amid concerns of the omicron variant, with nightclubs to close, bars and restaurants to revert to six adults per table and no multiple table bookings allowed, indoor cultural and sporting events to operate at 50% capacity, a maximum of four households allowed to meet indoors and the requirement of vaccination certificates extended to gyms, leisure centres and hotel bars. on 9 december, health officials announced that five further cases of the omicron variant had been detected, bringing to six the total number of cases that had been identified in ireland following whole genome sequencing. on 12 december, four additional cases of the variant were detected, bringing to 10 the total number of cases that had been identified. cases of the omicron variant continued to increase rapidly. fifth wave on 15 december, chief medical officer tony holohan urged people to take precautions to avoid being in isolation for christmas. a fifth wave of covid-19 had arrived in ireland on 19 december, according to the health protection surveillance centre. further covid-19 restrictions were imposed on 20 december for the christmas period, with an 8pm closing time for bars, restaurants, live events, cinemas and theatres. a further 7,333 cases were reported the next day, the highest number reported since early january. on 19 december, the omicron variant became ireland's dominant variant after it was confirmed that 52% of cases were now due to the variant. on christmas day, a record 13,765 cases were reported, while a further 16,428 cases were reported on 29 december. chief medical officer tony holohan expressed concern and stated that "every individual should consider themselves potentially infectious". a record 20,554 cases were reported the next day, as it was confirmed that 92% of cases were now due to the omicron variant. holohan urged people to keep social contacts low and not to hold household gatherings on new year's eve, while minister for health stephen donnelly announced new advice on covid-19 testing and the period of isolation. on 31 december, a further 20,110 cases were reported, bringing the end of 2021 totals to 788,559 cases and 5,912 deaths. on new year's day, 23,281 cases were recorded, as health officials warned that the true number of cases was likely to be higher, due to increased pressure on the pcr testing system. on 8 january, a record 26,122 cases were reported – the highest daily number reported since the pandemic began. by 10 january, 1,000,000 total cases had been confirmed, with more cases recorded in the first five days of 2022 than in the whole of 2020. cases fell sharply after the 8 january peak, and on 21 january, taoiseach micheál martin announced the easing of almost all covid-19 restrictions, with the requirements of vaccine certificates and social distancing to end, restrictions on household visits and capacity limits for indoor and outdoor events to end, nightclubs to reopen and pubs and restaurants to resume normal trading times, while rules on isolation and the wearing of masks in certain settings would remain. remaining restrictions were agreed to be removed from 28 february, with mask wearing in schools, indoor retail settings and on public transport to be voluntary, restrictions in schools to end and testing to be scaled back, while it was agreed that the national public health emergency team (nphet) be disbanded. by march 2022, cases and hospitalisations began to increase again, as ireland entered a new wave of the omicron variant. despite this, celebrations took place across the country to mark st patrick's day, following a two-year absence due to covid-19, with around 400,000 people attending festivities in dublin. figures showed on 21 march that 63,954 people had tested positive for covid-19 since st patrick's day. the world health organization said ireland eased restrictions too "brutally" and was now seeing a spike in cases as a result. dr tony holohan announced a few days later that he would step down as chief medical officer on 1 july, after being appointed to a new role at trinity college dublin. this caused several days of controversy, and as a result, holohan announced that he would retire as cmo on 1 july and would not take up his planned academic position at tcd. on 27 march, hospitalisations reached its highest level in 14 months with 1,569 covid-19 patients. two days later, minister for health stephen donnelly said there were no plans for restrictions to be re-introduced, despite the number of covid-19 cases likely to be "hundreds of thousands" per week, while he said the ba.2 variant now accounted for about 95% of cases in ireland. a new covid-19 advisory group was established on 8 april 2022. by early april, case numbers began to decrease but remained high. on 16 april, hospital and icu numbers continued to decrease to its lowest levels since 5 march. the ba.4 sub-variant of omicron was confirmed to have arrived in ireland during the week of 7 may. on 10 june, minister for health stephen donnelly urged people to take up their booster vaccine after covid-19 hospitalisations began to rise, while tánaiste leo varadkar warned of a potential summer wave of covid-19. by 20 june, there were 606 patients in hospital with covid-19, an increase of 153 from the previous week. hse chief clinical officer dr colm henry said he was "very concerned", while a virologist at ucd said it was too late to reintroduce mandatory mask wearing, adding that the latest wave of infection had been "completely predictable". as of july 2022, there had been 1,628,745 infections and 7,571 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began. vaccines main article: covid-19 vaccination in the republic of ireland total eligible population vaccinated at least one dose second dose booster dose covid-19 vaccination in the republic of ireland began on 29 december 2020. annie lynch, a 79-year-old woman, became the first person in the republic of ireland to receive the pfizer–biontech covid-19 vaccine at st. james's hospital, dublin, and received the second dose three weeks later on tuesday 19 january 2021. maura byrne, a 95-year-old woman, became the first nursing home resident in the republic of ireland to receive the pfizer covid-19 vaccine on 5 january 2021, while dr eavan muldoon, an infectious diseases consultant, became the first healthcare worker in the mater university hospital to receive the vaccine. by the end of january, three effective vaccines of pfizer–biontech, moderna and oxford–astrazeneca were in use in ireland. by 10 september, 90% of adults in ireland were fully vaccinated against covid-19. ireland's vaccination rollout has been praised as one of the most successful rollouts in the world and was ranked number one in the european union in terms of its percentage of adult population fully vaccinated, and was also ranked number one in the eu for the number of booster vaccines administered. a booster programme began in late september 2021 and a second and third booster programme began throughout 2022. testing the developing and delivering of testing of ireland was led by the staff in the national virus reference laboratory. with the acquisition of the sequence of the virus, they used this to develop and validate in-house assays in advance of obtaining any commercial diagnostic kits. the nvrl played a vital role in the early detection of covid-19 cases in ireland, and began playing a vital role in the detection of new variants of covid-19 in 2021. testing positivity rate % (last 7 days) total tests completed impacts economy like most countries in the world, the pandemic's emergence and the lockdowns it led to deeply impacted the irish economy, causing it to plunge into a recession. while there were job losses in all sectors primarily due to stay-at-home orders, individuals working in tourism, hospitality, food and retail were most likely to be affected. a covid-19 pandemic unemployment payment and a temporary covid-19 wage subsidy scheme were set up. society the social impact of the pandemic had far-reaching consequences in the country that went beyond the spread of the disease itself and efforts to quarantine it, including political, criminal, religious, educational, artistic and sporting implications. the 2020 leaving certificate, 2020–2021 junior certificate and all 2020–2021 irish language summer courses in the gaeltacht were cancelled. the 2020 dublin horse show was cancelled, the first time since 1940 that the event did not occur. the tidy towns competition was cancelled for the first time in its 62-year history. the rose of tralee was cancelled for the first time in its 61-year history. the 2020 national ploughing championships and ballinasloe horse fair also did not take place. the all-ireland senior football championship and all-ireland senior hurling championship were completed in december in between the second and third waves of the virus to hit ireland, maintaining their record of having been held annually since 1887. gallery shop door showing social distancing measures. irish butcher implementing ad hoc social distancing measures. supermarket: a one-way system, instructions on social distancing, disposable gloves, trolley cleaning supplies. temporary protection for employees deployed in a grocery store during the pandemic. pharmacy where the door has been replaced with a hatch for exchanging goods. people queueing at an irish supermarket, march 2020; strips of black tape on the ground to demarcate 2-metre gaps. a grandson visits his grandmother who is "cocooning" in her home. two-metre marking for visitors to bram stoker park in marino, dublin. a garda checkpoint on the main street of maynooth, april 2020. an irish paramedic en route to a so-called "query case" during the pandemic in ireland. two pints of stout delivered fresh from a pub. the delivery service of pints was a novel innovation of the pandemic in ireland. the garda síochána—upon taking legal advice—confirmed that there was no law against the service. social distancing floor signs in an irish supermarket in august 2020.