Government performed done a U-turn as schools are set to stay shut until January 11 under new coronavirus plans to be announced soon.
Cabinet is meeting today to discuss a raft of new restrictions as the Covid situation in Ireland spirals.
Shops, gyms, leisure centres, golf and tennis could all be closed from Wednesday under the new measures set to be announced by Micheal Martin this evening
It is expected that the numbers will get worse in the coming days, as the backlog from the Christmas weekend hits the system.
Speaking today Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said the focus right now has to be “doing everything that is necessary to suppress this virus.”
Speaking to reporters on his way into Cabinet, he said: “While we get vaccinating initially the nursing homes, people in the nursing homes and the residents and critically our frontline healthcare workers as well.
“We need to keep people safe, we need to keep people alive and we need to keep our hospital system and our healthcare system open.
“So obviously very serious decisions have to be looked at today.”
A ban on all household visits is also likely to be reintroduced as well as a 5km travel limit for people across the country.
The return to Level Five restrictions would see the country return to a total lockdown for the third time in 9 months.
