The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) will meet later to consider its latest recommendations to Government on how best to limit Covid-19 transmission over the Christmas period.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly warned last night it was "entirely possible", due to the increased transmissibility of the Omicron variant, that the number of Covid-19 infections, and hospitalisations, could exceed the spike last January.
The Omicron variant constitutes a very significant risk for the country, according to Minister Donnelly, and based on information coming from the UK, it is what he termed "reasonable" to predict Ireland can expect a very high number of cases - possibly greater than last January's spike.