The Minister for Health, Simon Harris, has said he believes the country is moving towards reopening at the right pace, in line with public health advice.
He appealed to the public to keep the number of people they are in close contact with low, and to self-isolate immediately if they have any symptoms.
Mr Harris said health authorities were not ignorant of the fact that people needed to see other people and had found the last few months very hard.
People should ask themselves "who do I need to see?" and limit their contacts to that. He said we all had a duty of care towards each other to keep close contacts at a sensible level.