Dr Ronan Glynn has said the Government will release a nine month coronavirus plan soon as Ireland "moves to chapter two" of the Covid battle.
Speaking on The Late Late Show the acting Chief Medical Officer praised the people of Ireland and encouraged everyone to keep up the efforts.
Dr Glynn said: "We are closing the first chapter of Covid-19 and are now moving into chapter two.
"Absolutely we are still in control of this, and when I say we, I am talking about the Irish people because it is the efforts of the Irish people that keep this and have kept it under control.
"It's no surprise given that we've opened up and relaxed measures that we've seen an increase in cases but we've seen a very slow increase in cases.
"We are not where we'd like to be, we'd prefer to have much lower numbers of cases everyday but that said we are seeing a stabilisation."
The top doctor said while we will be social distancing throughout the winter he doesn't want people to become isolated.
He added: "I'm acutely aware of the mental health and wellbeing impact that this pandemic has had on people across the country.
"We do not want to see people isolated in their homes this winter, we need people to stay connected.
"We need people to get outside and exercise and engage in sport. All of that needs to happen. But we need people to do it in just a slightly different way."
