People need to get their heads around the “new normal” in the age of the global pandemic, the HSE has warned.
The executive’s chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry says the new way of life in Ireland must include avoiding crowds and having minimum close contact with others.
Dr Henry told Newstalk Breakfast that the health service had already suffered “an unprecedented shock to the system" and pointed to the worrying trend of virus outbreaks in crowded settings like the workplace.
And while he said there was an onus on individuals to play their part, he called on employers to ensure that their employees were safe.
The health expert’s warnings come as a second city centre building site was forced to close following a confirmed COVID case among one of its workers, and follows news that a north Dublin creche worker had contracted the virus.
On Monday, the State’s acting chief medic Dr Ronan Glynn warned that workplaces were the new covid hotspots.
He said: "We are now seeing outbreaks of the virus in a range of work settings, including in construction, in fast food outlets and in supermarkets.
"We can't underestimate how quickly clusters develop.
"We have come so far together, but we need to stay vigilant to prevent a resurgence across the whole country in the coming weeks."
