Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has warned that serious new restrictions would be required to contain the latest highly transmissible Covid-19 variant.
Speaking to Fianna Fail members on last night, Minister Donnelly said the true number of Covid-19 cases in the community is likely to be several hundred thousand cases, according to sources at the online meeting.
Minister Donnelly told the meeting that the current transmissibility of the variant meant that extremely restrictive measures would be needed but the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan has not advised such restrictions at this time.