Tánaiste Leo Varadkar told his Fine Gael parliamentary party colleagues last night that Ireland could return to a version of level 4 restrictions after March 5th.
It would allow people to travel within their own county, and permits outdoor dining.
NPHET will meet this morning to consider the current situation, with 54 Covid-related deaths and 1,335 new cases reported yesterday.
Of these, 30 were in Carlow with 10 in Kilkenny.
Hospitals
The number of people with the virus being treated in public hospitals has fallen to 1,598, while there are 212 patients in Intensive Care Units nationally.
Four of these are at the local ICU at St Luke’s General, among 30 patients with the virus there. While University Hospital Waterford has 106 people with Coronavirus, seven of whom are in intensive care.
There’s still a shortage of critical care beds in public facilities across the South East, the only one available this morning being in Wexford.
But ICU consultant Alan Gaffney is vice-president of the Intensive Care Society and says the situation is improving in critical care units.
Meanwhile, the number of patients contacting GPs with Covid-19 symptoms has decreased by 80% since the start of the month.
Dr Shane McKeogh is from GP Buddy, which tracks presentations to doctors across the country – he says the number of calls has clearly dropped.
Travel
Short-stay visits into Ireland are now temporarily banned from 11 South American countries and South Africa.
Visa-free travel ended at midnight and will remain until March 5th as part of government’s plan to stop Covid-19 variants arriving.
The Taoiseach told his parliamentary party last night that people travelling for holidays will face tough sanctions.
Micheal Martin said 800 people arrived into Dublin Airport on Monday, and almost half were from holiday spots.
But Carlow man Pat Dawson from the Irish Travel Agents Association claims international travel is not the big issue.
Meanwhile, hauliers boarding a ferry to France are required to have a negative Covid-19 test from today.
It’s after the French government introduced new requirements for entry into the country.
Antigen testing centres have been set up at Dublin Airport and Gorey in Wexford, with others to follow.
Truck drivers fear the requirement could result in missing ferry sailings.
However, Junior Transport Minister Hildegarde Naughton, says pre-booking a test will avoid difficulties.
Clusters
There was a seven-fold increase in new clusters of Covid-19 in private houses last week.
71 were confirmed, compared to nine the week before.
There were 654 new cases in nursing homes last week and 71 in community hospitals or long-stay units.
100 new cases were identified in meat or poultry factories, while 42 were detected in Direct Provision centres in the week up until Saturday.
