Stephen Donnelly says Level 5 restrictions have helped reduce the rate.
The reproductive rate of Covid-19 has dropped to between 0.7 and 0.9, the Health Minister has told an Oireachtas committee.
Minister Stephen Donnelly said that level 5 restrictions have helped the 14-day incidence rate of the virus fall to 228 cases per 100,000 population.
However, he added that he remains seriously concerned about the recent number of positive tests, with almost 11,000 reported over the past two weeks.
The Minister also announced that the health service has just significantly expanded its testing capacity.
''Capacity was increased recently from 100,000 tests a week to being able to do 120,00 tests a week'', he said.
''I'm delighted to able to share this morning that the HSE has now confirmed that they can do up to 140,000 tests per week.
''And I really just want to give the men and women working at the HSE great credit for this, they're working night and day''.
Last night, a further five Covid-19 related deaths and 322 new cases of the disease were notified to the Department of Health
While the number of people in ICU is 42, a reduction of two since yesterday.
