The Easter weekend could be "Ireland's Cheltenham" when it comes to the spread of the coronavirus, it has been warned.
Dr Paddy Mallon said the Irish Government acted at the right time unlike the UK, where thousands attended the annual racing event in mid-March.
But Dr Mallon, an infectious disease physician, said Ireland could see a surge in cases if people in the east "decide to take off".
He told Newstalk's Breakfast show that “we could be seeing a drop off” in cases next week if people stick to the latest restrictions.
He said: "We're in a really delicate position. If you remember back to what happened in the UK, they're looking back at the big mistakes that they made.
"And one of the biggest mistakes they made in the UK was around Cheltenham.
"And what you had in Cheltenham were, tens of thousands of people potentially exposed to a virus that then distributed all around the country.
"And they're now looking back at that saying that was probably one of the seminal events in the UK that has led to widespread dissemination of this infection.
"We're in a similar scenario this weekend, if everyone in the population centres in the east - [which is] very heavily affected with coronavirus - and decide to take off for the weekend, then this will be our Cheltenham.
"And in two weeks we'll be sitting in an absolute disaster."
He added: "Treat this the same as every other weekend. Stay home, eat chocolate and next week we could be seeing good news."
The majority of Ireland's COVID-19 related deaths have been recorded in the east of the country.
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