The Chief Executive of the HSE has said that most of the body's worst concerns from before Christmas have now been realised.
Speaking at a HSE briefing this afternoon, Paul Reid said there was now "an unprecedented and toxic combination of potential scenarios" which have been realised and have emerged.
Mr Reid said this was a combination of "a massively high level and rapidly growing daily cases", combined with test positivity levels that have not been seen in a long time.
He said this was demonstrating a "very dangerous level of transmission of the virus", and added that there were now "extreme levels" in terms numbers of the number of people's close contacts.