The Government is advising people to start restricting their movements now if they plan to spend Christmas with vulnerable family members.
Assistant Secretary-General at the Department of the Taoiseach Liz Canavan said that with just two weeks to go, people should start to limit their contacts now.
She said: "It won't be sufficient to start reducing your contacts in the couple of days before Christmas. "That means you might have to postpone that meal with friends until after Christmas, and it will mean avoiding crowds." Ms Canavan said that everyone should now be thinking about planning their holidays because it has implications for how we spend the next two weeks in the run-up to Christmas.