Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has said that a second lockdown could be necessary to stop the spread of Covid-19 in Ireland.
The Fine Gael leader said in today's Sunday Independent that a circuit breaker lockdown could be the way to quickly stop the virus growth.
A circuit breaker lockdown - two weeks to break the chains of transmission - may be carried out in the next few weeks.
Mr Varadkar told the Sunday Independent: "It(circuit breaker lockdown) may well be needed at some point. No other country in Europe has tried this. It would be an experiment but it could work. In Israel it seems to be producing results."
HSE chief Paul Reid this morning said that the situation is getting worse at a rapid speed.
Mr Reid said: "Covid-19 is worsening at pace. We all need to get real & play our part to protect patients & our healthcare workers.
"Increased hospital cases leads to more people in ICU & cancelling heart, cancer & other care.Let's turn this around quickly by doing the right thing today."
Dr Tony Holohan has also issued a stark message after 1,012 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in Ireland.
He said: “I am very worried about the numbers we are seeing and how quickly they are deteriorating.
“All of today’s 1,012 cases were notified to the HPSC over a period of 24 hours up to midnight.
“The 14-day incidence rate has increased from 108 per 100,000 last Sunday to 150 per 100,000 today, which represents a 39% increase.
“All of the important indicators of the disease are deteriorating. For example, there has been a consistent increase in test positivity over the past week. The test positivity rate up to midnight Friday 9 October was 6.2%, which has more than doubled in less than a fortnight.
“Case numbers are growing across all age groups and throughout the country.”
