Public health bosses in Ireland's mid-west have pleaded with people in Limerick, Clare and North Tipperary to stay home amid a "devastating" rise in case numbers.
The Department of Public Health made the appeal after the three counties recorded a staggering 5,200 cases in the last two weeks.
Dr Mai Mannix, the director of Public Health Mid-West, said levels of infection remain "significantly high" in the region.
"While we have seen a few indications of slowdown in the transmission of the disease, with a slight decrease in daily infection numbers, the level of infection remains significantly high across the region," she told RTE's News at One.
"Covid-19 remains widespread in our community, and it continues to present a high risk for the vulnerable population, particularly those in nursing homes and long-term care facilities.
"The third wave continues to leave its devastating impact on our community as we are a still some time away from seeing signs of relief.
"Right now, we are in no position to drop our guards or be complacent, which is why we need to hold firm, stay at home, and strictly follow public health guidelines."
Dr Mannix's comments come after a newly published letter from Dr Tony Holohan revealed concerns among the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) that Ireland could see more than 1,000 deaths from Covid-19 in January alone.
In a letter to Stephen Donnelly – written last week and published online today – the Chief Medical Officer said that NPHET modelling shows there could be up to 30 deaths a day in the community this month, on top of the mortalities in nursing homes and hospitals.
"Given the large number of recently notified outbreaks in long term residential care facilities and hospitals, we can, unfortunately, expect to see, in addition, a large scale of mortality in these settings," he wrote.
"It is therefore anticipated that a total of at least 500-1,000 deaths may occur in the month of January."
