DUBLIN -- Ninety percent of adults in Ireland have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, announced a senior public health official here on Friday.
Paul Reid, chief executive officer of Health Service Executive (HSE), a state agency responsible for the rollout of the vaccination program in Ireland, made the announcement on his Twitter account.
The Irish national radio and television broadcaster RTE said that the seven millionth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine is set to be administered in Ireland on Friday.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin hailed the achievements as "two major milestones" in the country's rollout of the vaccine, according to RTE.
The news came at a time when the COVID-19 daily cases in Ireland remained above the 1,000-level for 56 days in a row.
The Irish Department of Health reported 1,620 new confirmed COVID-19 cases across the country Friday evening, an increase of 328 cases from Thursday.
On July 17, Ireland saw its daily cases surpass the 1,000-level for the first time in multi months, marking the onset of the fourth wave of infections in the country.
Statistics from the Irish Department of Health showed that the weekly cases in the fourth wave have surpassed those recorded in the peak time of the first and second wave but still lower than the third wave which peaked in early January this year.
Nearly 90 percent of the COVID-19 cases under the current wave were related to the Delta variant of the virus, according to Irish public health officials.
There were fewer deaths and hospitalizations in the current wave than in the previous waves thanks to the COVID-19 vaccines, they said.