The number of Irish patients looking for a coronavirus test nearly tripled over the bank holiday weekend.
GPs reported that they had clinically diagnosed 298 people with Covid-19 on Tuesday, August 4.
This is a big increase from the same figure on Friday, July 31, which stood at 114. It is also by far the biggest number recorded in the last four weeks.
The data was released by the GPBuddy Covid-19 community tracker.
The tracker asks GPs across the country to submit the number of clinically diagnosed cases they treated each day, as well as the number of patients that met the testing criteria.
GPBuddy said the figures demonstrate that the Government's controversial decision not to advance to Phase 4 "makes sense".
However they insisted that spikes in reported cases are common after Bank Holiday weekends.
They wrote on Twitter: "Decision to delay Phase 4 makes sense from the available data & reflects experience of GPs recently. We do often see a bank holiday Tuesday spike.
"Please isolate if any Covid-19 symptoms! Contact your GP."
It comes after an expert warned Ireland faces local lockdowns "in weeks" without urgent changes.
Tomas Ryan, associate professor at Trinity College Dublin, says the current measures are "not working".
He said Ireland's current testing and tracing structures are not fast enough, and that cases are now rising at a rate that we "don't have control" over.
Melbourne in Australia and Aberdeen in Scotland have both been forced to reimpose lockdown restrictions after a surge in cases.
And Prof Ryan warned that we could follow them if we don't implement a more "robust system".
He said: “In a couple of weeks we could be in a situation quite similar to what happened in Melbourne or Aberdeen and no one wants to see that.
“But even beyond the next couple of weeks, as we move into September and as we deal with bigger challenges than we've been facing, when schools open, when pubs open.
"As winter comes and as flu season comes, we need a more robust system to be doing this.
“We cannot be just walking a tightrope. We need proper guard rails."
