A maximum of six people indoors and 15 outdoors is currently allowed under public health rules.
Those measures are in place until September 14th, at which point government will decide on the next steps based on advice from NPHET.
Chair of its expert advisory group, Dr Cillian DeGascun, says he is remaining positive that restrictions on family gatherings can be eased over the coming months:
"NPHET keeps all of the metrics - the case numbers, the trends and the R number - all under constant review.
"The measures that were put in place the week before last, we would hope to start seeing an effect from those over the weekend and through this week now.
"Hopefully we will get through to September 14th and we will be able to lift some restrictions again."
Winter period
It comes as Health Minister, Stephen Donnelly announced his plans for the winter period.
“The health service is entering a challenging winter period, in the midst of a global pandemic. It’s important that we make every effort collectively to limit the impact on the health service over the coming months," he said.
Plans to reduce stress on the country’s healthcare service during the winter include an expanded flu vaccination programme set to roll out in the autumn, with all at-risk groups – including healthcare workers – having free access to the vaccination.
Vaccines for children aged from two to 12 years old will also be administered free of charge from the end of October in the form of nasal drops rather than injection, and are unaffected by the other vaccine delay as they are arriving from a different manufacturer.
The expanded programme hopes to prevent spikes of Covid-19 and the flu occurring at the same time.
