Care home residents who have been vaccinated may be able to re-engage with society in a matter of weeks.
The Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn has said the prospect of permitting visits for vaccinated people is under active review.
No new virus-related deaths were reported last night for the first time since December 21st, while 821 new cases were announced.
Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 patients in Irish hospitals fell to 849 the first time the figure has fallen below the peak of the first wave since early January.
“Active review”
Dr Glynn said care home residents will have to wait a few more weeks before visitors can be welcome back.
This is under active review but right now we need to wait for everyone in those facilities that wants to be vaccinated to be vaccinated, he said. I know uptake has been very close to 100% in those facilities.
We are not there yet. We have another few weeks to go. They need to be vaccinated and then we need to wait between seven and 14 days for them to achieve full protection.
He also warned that the wider public will be asked to avoid crowded areas for at least the next six months.
Over the coming months, what we will want everyone to do is, where they are out and about, where they are interacting, to do so safely, he said.
I dont see a scenario where we are not asking people to wear face masks, to keep physical distance, to avoid crowds and avoid poorly ventilated spaces over the next six months.
Quarantine
This morning, Cabinet will consider mandatory hotel quarantine legislation for some people arriving into Ireland.
Under the plans, anyone arriving from a list of 20 countries deemed high risk will have to isolate at a state facility.
While the plans were announced a number of weeks ago, the legislation has taken some time to draft and is only being brought before ministers today.
The new laws will allow them to add countries to a list for mandatory quarantine.
People coming from those countries will have to quarantine for two weeks at their own expense in a State-nominated hotel, policed by private security.
It is expected the bill will be around 2,000 per adult for the stay.
At present, 20 countries are on the high-risk list, including Brazil, South Africa, Austria, the UAE and many sub-Saharan African countries due to fears about new variants.
Hotel quarantine will also apply to people that arrive here without a negative PCR test and refuse to take one.
Cabinet is also expected to consider legislation that will increase fines for going on holiday from 500 to 2000.
With reporting from Seán Defoe