Ireland's Deputy Chief Medical Officer has said that much more progress must be "achieved and sustained" over the coming weeks to bring the coronavirus under control.
Speaking to the Oireachtas Committee on Health, Dr Ronan Glynn said that even though case numbers are reducing, hospitals will remain under intense pressure for some time.
He said the National Public Health Emergency Team is monitoring three variants of the virus - first detected in the UK, South Africa and Brazil - and warned that some mutations may provide the virus an opportunity to transmit more easily or to evade the immune response.
Dr Glynn said that significant progress has been made by the public to reduce transmission. He told the committee that the average number