The Tánaiste has said this will be the darkest month in terms of Covid-19 after more cases of the virus were reported in the Republic in the past two weeks than in the first eight months of the pandemic.
Leo Varadkar said the third wave is going to be much worse than the first and that this will be the darkest month for the HSE.
"We are in the middle of the third wave of the pandemic and it's going to be worse than the first, but on the upside, we are more prepared.
"We have PPE stockpiled, 1,000 more beds than we had at the same time last year, more ICU capacity and more staff," Mr Varadkar said
This comes as immunologist Professor Luke O'Neill said deaths from the virus could surge in the coming weeks in line with increased admissions to hospitals and ICUs, adding we "need to keep our fingers crossed in these next few days".
On Sunday, 6,888 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed by the Department of Health, along with eight additional deaths.
There have been 61,484 cases reported in the past 14 days, while the country's total number of infections on October 30th stood at 61,059.
Ireland's national 14-day incidence rate is now 1291.2 according to the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet), with 16 counties reporting over 1,000 cases per 100,000 people, including Louth and Monaghan which both have rates in excess of 2,000 cases per 100,000.
DCU Professor Anthony Staines says the spiralling case numbers are much worse than predicted.
"The numbers are much higher than anyone had feared.
"We now almost have the highest rate of Covid-19 on the planet, which is very worrying and our rate has gone up much faster than other European countries.
"It seems to be [caused by] a mix of a lot of movement and social activity around Christmas," Prof Staines says.
This morning, 1,575 people with Covid-19 were being treated in Irish hospitals, representing an additional 149 admissions since yesterday morning.
'Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better'
Meanwhile, infectious diseases expert Professor Paddy Mallon has warned that all the indications are that “things will get worse before they get better” with Covid cases.
Figures in the North were expected to double in the coming weeks, he said, and the same thing could happen here, he told Newstalk Breakfast.
“I think things are going to get a lot worse before they get better. I would really appeal to everyone in the country to treat this with the seriousness it deserves because the worst is yet to come given the numbers we have at the moment.”
The only solution was for everyone in the community to go back to behaving the way they did during the first wave last March, he said. It was no longer about stabilising numbers. The numbers had to be “crushed”.
While infectious disease experts had expected the figures to be bad in January, he said, they had never anticipated they would be at the level of 7,000 per day.
Prof Mallon added that there continued to be sustained levels of community transmission which was alarming and the health service would not be able to operate properly.
“That is the simple truth. This is as serious as it gets.”
Prof Mallon encouraged everybody to stay at home as that was the only solution to the problem.
The longer the current situation continued, the greater the impact on people’s health and the longer it would take for the health service to recover, he warned.
