The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) is set to meet this morning to review the progress that has been made to suppress Covid-19 under new nationwide restrictions.
Level 5 restrictions have been in force around the country for two weeks.
On the day Level 5 took effect, October 21st, there were 1,167 new cases of the virus confirmed with three additional deaths.
Last night saw some 444 new cases announced, with a further eight deaths reported.
An immunologist, Professor Kingston Mills from Trinity College, said he believes the country is on track to exit Level 5 restrictions by December.
“It’s great, we’re actually doing better than most countries in Europe now, I think we’re sixth, there’s only five countries better than us in terms of the numbers per 100,000 which again is a critical statistic,” he said.
“I think the key issue for me is that while we’ve done a great job in getting those numbers down, we’ve got to keep them down.”
Improvement
On the day the country moved to Level 5, the national 14-day incidence rate of the virus stood at 291 per 100,000 people.
Two weeks later the incidence rate shows an improvement, having fallen to 212 cases of the virus per 100,000.
The incidence rate of the virus peaked at 309 cases per 100,000 about a week after the introduction of Level 5 restrictions, on October 28th.
The number of hospitalisations has not fallen significantly over the two week period, with 314 people in hospital with the virus on October 21st and 307 people in hospital today.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly confirmed yesterday that the reproductive rate of the virus has fallen below one and is now estimated to be between 0.7 and 0.9 .
The Taoiseach has told his party that current restrictions are unlikely to be lifted until the planned six weeks are up.
The Government will look at "minimum additional restrictions" to keep Covid-19 levels down after Ireland leaves Level 5, according to Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly.
