The Taoiseach has issued a heartfelt plea to the public to obey new Level Five restrictions.
Ireland began its second national lockdown at midnight, with a raft of new measures being introduced.
Almost all workers have been told to stay home, and can only meet with a person from one other household in an outdoor setting, where social distancing can be maintained.
All non-essential retail, along with bars, restaurants, cafes, gyms, hairdressers and barbers are closed, while people must limit their movements to within 5km of their home.
The Government is also introducing several fines for those caught breaching the strict new rules.
But speaking last night, Taoiseach Micheal Martin pleaded with everyone to abide by the new guidelines, and reminded people "why we're doing this."
He tweeted: "This evening, as we think about the next six weeks of increased restrictions at Level 5, we just need to remember that we are doing this to protect our families and the most vulnerable in our communities.
"We will come through it and we will see each other again."
Although we're entering a second lockdown, schools will remain open.
This is despite case numbers in schools nearly doubling in a week and almost quadrupling in a fortnight.
The latest stats from the HSE reveal that there have been 384 schools tested since they reopened at the start of September.
There were 46 outbreaks in schools in the week ending October 17, last Saturday, up from 25 the week before and 12 the week before that again.
There have been a total of 119 outbreaks in total since the decision was made to reopen the country’s schools last month.
The positive detection rate is lower in schools, at just under 2%, compared to 7% in the general community.
