The country is preparing for its third full Level 5 lockdown this year as a special crunch cabinet meeting takes place today.
The urgent and drastic update comes after a warning from Dr Tony Holohan and NPHET that cases are spiralling out of control with backlogs forming from the Christmas period.
CMO Tony Holohan has recommended that the Government move to the strictest of restrictions like seen in the six weeks prior to December.
We're currently in a 'Level 5 minus or Level with exceptions' lockdown which sees non-essential retail remaining open as well as certain sports open for physical and mental health purposes.
But in a drastic u-turn - shops, gyms, leisure centres, golf and tennis could all be stopped yet again under a full Level 5 announcement.
Micheal Martin is expected to address the nation after today's Cabinet meeting, which takes place at 2:30pm, where he will outline the latest plan and reasons for implementing it.
Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, revealed yesterday that a new letter from NPHET arrived on his desk on Monday, and that it does not make for pleasant reading.
He said that the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, has told him that a “full Level 5” is what is needed to arrest the “alarming” rise in numbers.
Mr Donnelly’s predecessor in Health, Minister for Higher Education, Simon Harris, underlined how serious things have suddenly got.
He told Dublin Live that the emergency Cabinet meeting called for 2:30pm this afternoon, the second in three days, he points out, will "not be for sharing Christmas greetings".
It has been estimated that we could be seeing daily figures in excess of 2,000 if the current escalation isn’t slowed or reversed.
