Donegal and the rest of the country will officially go to Level 5 of the Government’s Living with Covid plan at midnight on Wednesday.
An Taoiseach Micheal Martin made the announcement at Government buildings just after 9pm.
We will remain at Level 5 for the next weeks.
The move brings a range of measures in a bid to curb the spread of the virus.
Schools will remain open and elite sport such as the GAA senior championship will take place.
People cannot move from outside five kilometres of their home.
Social welfare allowances will also be increased and the PUP payment will return to the highest level of €350 as it was when the pandemic first struck here in March.
Weddings will remain at 25 guests while bars, restaurants will only be allowed to sell takeaways.
All non-essential retail outlets including hairdressers, clothing outlets and gyms will close.
Families will not be allowed to visit others but will be allowed to socialise with one other family in a social bubble.
The Taoiseach said the Irish people will persevere and we will come through this together.
He acknowledged that Ireland already has some of the harshest lockdown measures in Europe but said we must act now to reduce the number of cases and deaths.
He said defiantly “We will suppress this virus and we will emerge from these restrictions on December 1.
“It isn’t easy, but we must dig deep within ourselves
“We must persevere and be resilient.
“These really are the toughest of times,” he added.
He added that all this is being done to give Ireland a fighting chance and so we can have a Christmas together.
“There is hope and there is light. Every Christmas is important, but this year particularly so.”
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