The Cabinet will meet this afternoon to discuss further restrictions to prevent the spread of Covid-19, including a ban on household visits, the closure of non-essential retail and a 5-kilometre limit on travel.
It is expected that there will be no changes to the planned reopening of schools, despite calls for an extension to the Christmas holidays.
This is the second cabinet meeting in three days and was called amid growing concern around case numbers and an increase in hospitalisations.
Yesterday the Department of Health was notified of nine more coronavirus-related deaths and just over 1,500 new cases of the disease.