The Government are to discuss if Ireland needs more restrictions to curb the surge in Covid cases in two weeks time.
Speaking on CNN during the week, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar said that ministers will reconvene in little over a week to assess the situation.
Decision makers are remaining hopeful that strict Covid measures won't be needed, however they haven't ruled them out either.
And Dr Tony Holohan has pleaded with the public and warned that 200,000 people will be infected with Covid-19 in December unless behaviours change.
The CMO said: “Anyone who is going to get Covid-19 in December has not yet been infected.
"Their infection is not inevitable and there is still time to prevent it by small changes in our behaviour.
- Those of us who have symptoms must stay home, self-isolate, and get a PCR test – not an antigen test
- All of us who are household contacts of a confirmed case need to restrict our movements and stay at home for 5 days
- The rest of us need to minimise our chances of coming into contact with the virus by reducing the number of people we meet and layering up on the public health advice - vaccine/booster, clean hands, masks, open windows, avoid crowds, work from home unless absolutely necessary
Hospitals have seen a 40% increase in admissions over the past 14 days as HSE CEO Paul Reid pleaded with the public to "bear with us."
Varadkar's restriction latest
When asked if the country would face more restrictions in the run up to Christmas, Mr Varadkar said: “I hope not.
“We’re going to reassess the situation in about two weeks time and see if cases have stabilised and hopefully they’ll be falling by then but there’s no guarantee that’s going to be the case.
“I’ve always said we needed to get through another winter before we could put this pandemic behind us.
“It is a difficult situation, things were going so well.
“I think as a nation we’re a little bit crestfallen, a little bit heartbroken that we’re back into a difficult space when it comes to Covid."
Speaking to CNN, the Fine Gael leader said about 5% of people in Ireland are not fully vaccinated, but 50% in hospital and ICU are not fully vaccinated.
“We do have one of the highest vaccination rates in the world, around 94% of adults are fully vaccinated.
“Unfortunately the 5% that are not [vaccinated] are causing a lot of the trouble.
