The Deputy Chief Medical Officer has said that while progress has been made in suppressing Covid-19, case numbers, test positivity and hospital admissions appear to be plateauing at levels that remain far too high.
Dr Ronan Glynn said it will now take longer to get cases down. The key reason progress is slowing is that the new more highly transmissible variant B117 - which was first detected in the UK - now accounts for 90% of all new Covid cases in Ireland.
Dr Glynn warned that people need to remain very cautious over the coming weeks. Latest coronavirus stories Chair of the NPHET Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group Professor Philip Nolan projected significantly higher case numbers by the end of February than he projected last