An infectious diseases consultant has advised Irish people to act like they are under Level 5 restrictions in order to prevent a massive spike in cases which will overwhelm hospitals.
Dr Corinna Sadlier said that it is probable that we will see an increase in the next 10 days to a fortnight because "the virus has already seeded".
She warned the public that nationwide, we should be acting like we're in full lockdown because the virus is currently "only going one way".
Speaking on Morning Ireland, the health expert added that while the situation has started to stabilise in Dublin, Cork is lagging behind and fears are the rest of the country could follow suit.
She said: "We need to do more than what we've been doing in the last few weeks, and quickly. Because the virus is back: People and their actions are the only things that can stop it from spreading."
"A circuit breaker needs to be considered. The risk is there. If we double down on the restrictions though, we could change the trajectory of this virus.
"If we really give Level 3 a go, we can come out of this without entering a Level 4 or 5 and slowly get the economy back working.
"The trajectory in Dublin is slowing but we're lagging behind in the rest of the country - there has been a rapid increase in the Cork region.
"I'd be very hopeful that people will buy into Level 3, it's what we do at an individual level which will determine what happens with the virus as a whole."
