Fully vaccinated people will no longer have to restrict their movements after being identified as a close contact of a Covid-19 case, under proposals to be considered by the National Public Health Emergency Team on Thursday.
Proposals to further relax the mask-wearing requirements for vaccinated people are also likely to be considered by Nphet as part of a greater vaccine bonus for those who have the protection afforded by full immunisation for at least two weeks.
The change will also relieve pressure on the contact tracing system, allowing more resources to be focused on high-risk cases.
Last week, the Government agreed that two people who have been fully vaccinated could be allowed meet up indoors or outdoors. At present, a close contact, usually defined as someone who has spent more than 15 minutes within two metres of a case, has to restrict their movements for 14 days, unless they have a negative test 10 days after the contact.
Under the changes being considered, fully vaccinated people would not be classified as close contacts, unless they were showing symptoms. More than 270,000 people in Ireland have received two doses of an authorised vaccine, according to the latest figures.
With schools set to return fully on Monday for the first time since last December, all indicators of the disease remain stable or in slight decline. The five-day moving average of cases has fallen from 543 to 463 cases per day over the past week, and the positivity rate, at 3.1 per cent, is at its lowest since mid-December.