A staggering 355 coronavirus cases a day are expected in Ireland by Sunday, a top doctor has warned.
Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health Dr Tony Holohan made the sobering announcement at a press briefing on Monday.
He revealed that predictions showed there would be 78 new cases of the bug confirmed on Tuesday, with 109 on Wednesday and 355 by Sunday.
Dr Holohan said: “The behaviours we adopt in the next 7 days will form the template for how we interrupt the spread of this virus over the coming months.
"We need to sustain social distancing, respiratory hygiene and these new ways of behaving if we are to succeed in minimising the threat posed by COVID-19. "
Dr Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, added: “These findings are very positive and demonstrate the efforts that so many people across society are making to protect our communities.
"The challenge now is build on and sustain this momentum over the coming weeks.”
It comes after Leo Varadkar said up to 15,000 cases of coronavirus are expected by the end of month.
The Taoiseach revealed we will see a huge surge of cases, with a 30% increase every day.
He said: "We would expect that by the end of the month there would be maybe 15,000 people who would have tested positive for COVID-19, most of those will not need treatment but a proportion will need to be hospitalised and we need to make sure that it doesn't happen at the same time."
Speaking about the time frame, he added: "Definitely dealing with this for many months, whether it's an issue next year or not I can't say."
Mr Varadkar also said unemployment will rise in the Republic of Ireland due to COVID-19.
It is estimated up to 140,000 people in the Republic will be out of work due to the pubs, bars and creches closing.
"Tens of thousands of people will be laid off and we will see unemployment rising again to a level we haven't seen in 13 or 14 years", he said.
