Shops may have to close from St Stephen's Day as the Government have been urged to start a six-week level 5 lockdown starting on St. Stephen's Day by NPHET.
NPHET have advised that non-essential retail should close.
Under Level 5, household visits are also banned.
Taoiseach Micheal Martin has asked retailers not to go ahead with January sales over fears it will lead to crowding in shops.
Many restaurants and gastro pubs will close today at 3pm.
Deepening concern over the new variant and the level of disease iin Ireland has led NPEHT to make a recomendation of a six-week lockdown, the Irish Times reports.
The Cabinet isn't due to meet again until December 29 and it is understood that a decision won't be taken on the Nphet advice until then.
New restrictions on household visits and intercountry travel will come into affect after St Stephen’s Day.
National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) warned on Wednesday that, as Ireland enters the Christmas period, it is “being hit very hard by a rapidly escalating and rapidly transmitting virus”.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said the Cabinet will keep NPHET’s advice “to the fore” when it meets on 29 December, but he didn't anticipate the government will act on it before then.
He told Morning Ireland on RTE Radio One: “Let’s not forget the decisions we have already made and let’s ensure that we focus on compliance with those recommendations and that we appeal to people and get very clear messaging to people in terms of what we’re expecting of them to keep everybody safe through Christmas.”
Coveney added that the government “is there to make decisions on all of the information we have” and there has been “no collective response” to NPHET's new advice.
A more infectious coronavirus strain has been detected in Ireland, health chiefs warned last night.
But they don’t believe the new variant of the bug, which was spotted in Britain, is solely responsible for a rapid spread in the disease.
The Department of Health yesterday reported 938 new infections and 13 further deaths.
Speaking at the health briefing, director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, Dr Cillian De Gascun said: “Following the announcement from the UK, we tested some of our existing cases on the diagnostic asset. These are samples from December 19, and 20.
“They have shown us that, now these are small numbers, but in the region probably about 10% have that S-Gene drop out.
“Based on the epidemiology in the UK, based on the travel between the two counties and based on the timeline, it’s probably that those results will reflect the presence of the UK variant. But given the timing, it probably wouldn’t in and of itself account for the case numbers that we’ve found, but as I’ve said we will go on to confirm that.
“Based on very small numbers it is predominantly in the east of the country, but that is where we see a significant burden of disease anyways.
“It’s too early to be definitive on that but that’s where we are seeing it at this point in time.”
The new strain is reported to be 70% more infectious than the original virus.
The variant was first seen in the UK last September. A number of European countries, including Ireland, have suspended flights from the UK in an effort to suppress the new strain.
British health secretary Matt Hancock last night announced two cases have been detected of another new strain of the coronavirus in the UK. He said: “Both are contacts of cases who have travelled from South Africa over the past few weeks.”
“This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK.”
The South African variant of Covid-19 is likely to be more transmissible, may hit young people harder, and may be slightly more resistant to vaccines, scientists believe.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said he does not believe the new variant is the cause of Ireland’s recent surge. He added: “We don’t believe at this point that we have evidence there is widespread transmission occurring with this new variant at this time.”
Professor Philip Nolan, of the NPHET modelling advisory team, warned every Covid-19 indicator is rising, with virus growth at an “exponential rate”.
Ireland’s 14-day Covid-19 incidence rate is now at 153 per 100,000 of the population with the five-day moving average at 785 cases per day.
Speaking last night Prof Nolan said this current wave of cases is rising as rapidly as the first surge in March and said the R-rate is now estimated at between 1.5 and 1.8.
He predicted between 1,000 and 1,600 cases a day if the R-rate does not drop below 1.
The average number of hospital admissions has risen from 14, where it has been stable for weeks, to 22 over the last seven days.
The demand for testing has also increased with more than 20,000 carried out on Tuesday with a 5.2% positivity rate.
Prof Nolan warned: “The fundamental message here is the disease is rising rapidly across the entire community and that is really putting the vulnerable at risk.”
Around 65% of cases are under 45 years of age, with the median age being 36 years old.
In Dublin there are 300 cases, 110 are in Cork, 72 are in Limerick, 68 are in Donegal and 41 are in Kildare.
Earlier, HSE chief Paul Reid said yesterday the transmission levels of Covid-19 are “very serious and dangerous”.
He added the situation in Ireland in relation to new cases of Covid-19 was deteriorating more rapidly than in any other country in Europe.
Earlier, Taoiseach Michael Martin warned it was “inconceivable” a new Covid strain of is not in Ireland already.
He said there are “risks” with inter-generational mixing over Christmas, adding: “The less congregation, the better.”
