New measures which may be needed to control the transmission of Covid-19 over the Christmas period are to be discussed today.
The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) will then pass on heir findings to Government.
Public health officials are expected to discuss whether such action is necessary, given the high prevalence of the virus in the country, coupled with concerns surrounding the Omicron variant.
A strict lockdown is not thought to be one of the measures being considered.
However other measures such as curbs to limit socialising may be on the cards, such as restrictions on the size of bookings for hospitality venues or an enhanced use of the Covid cert.
Meanwhile, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said he is “sceptical” as to whether further Covid restrictions are warranted at this time as the outlook of the virus is “stable or improving slightly”.
He added Ireland is doing “substantially better” than optimistic scenarios for cases, hospitalisations and deaths outlined in Nphet projections.
“For this reason, he said he was sceptical that imposing new restrictions on people’s freedoms, family life and businesses would be warranted at this time,” a party source said.
However, the high level at which cases seem to have stabilised at is a cause of concern, with the source adding that the worry is “if things went wrong in the run-up to Christmas, they would go wrong from a very high base”.
