The Government believes another lockdown can be avoided, although it cannot be ruled out entirely, according to the Tánaiste.
His comments come as the Department of Health is notified of 2,605 new cases of Covid-19. There are 487 patients in hospital with the virus, down 16 on the same time yesterday.
Of these, 99 people are being treated in ICU, a decrease of two from yesterday. Leo Varadkar said that because of vaccinations, 2,000 to 3,000 daily cases do not mean what they did last winter, but that further restrictions could have to be implemented. "Nobody can rule it [another lockdown] out.
As the CMO said the other day, It can't be taken off the table, but we do believe that we can avoid it," Mr Varadkar said. "Deaths - though deaths