The National Public Health Emergency Team is meeting again today to discuss the worrying spike in Covid-19 cases.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said he is "deeply concerned" about the current trend, with health experts believing we could be hitting 1,500 cases per day and have up to 450 people in hospital by November 7.
Speaking on Wednesday, Dr Holohan, said: “All key indicators of the disease have deteriorated further in the three days since the last meeting of NPHET on Sunday 4 October.
"COVID-19 is spreading in our community in a very worrying manner. We have to break these chains of transmission.
“80 COVID-19 cases were hospitalised in August, 206 in September and 77 so far in October.
“In August, 4 COVID-19 related deaths in total were reported, 34 in September and today on the 7 of October we report 8 COVID-19 related deaths this month.”
The news comes after Dr Holohan revealed he spoke to the Minister for Health about the worrying trends over the weekend, before a story was leaked about NPHET recommending a Level 5 lockdown.
The news sparked controversy after Stephen Donnelly failed to disclose that he knew of such concerns during a press briefing earlier this week.
But in fact, both Mr Donnelly and Taoiseach Micheal Martin were in the loop.
Dr Holohan said he was "very clear" during the two telephone conversations.
Ireland recorded 611 new cases and five further deaths on Wednesday.
