Public health officials say they have significant and growing concerns about Covid-19 outbreaks emerging among vulnerable groups.
There's been an increase in clusters of the virus in the past week, with outbreaks mainly occurring in direct provision centres, among Travellers, and in meat plants.
Teams have already been deployed to carry out specific testing in these areas, and it's expected there will be further action taken in the coming days.
There have been 37 new outbreaks in the past week, with 21 in Direct Provision Centres, involving 235 people, 21 new cases in the Traveller community, and two outbreaks in meat factories.
In the latest advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team, “significant and growing concerns” are raised about these outbreaks.
Half of all cases in the last two weeks were a person in contact with a confirmed case, making contact tracing easier.
The advice also tells the government that pubs and restaurants should close by 10.30pm, but it instead chose to introduce an 11pm rule.
