Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Saturday said the Government was very worried about the transmissibility of the Delta variant and predicted a high volume of cases.
The situation is serious in respect of the Delta variant. There will be a high volume of cases and case numbers will continue to grow so we will keep a very close eye on hospitalisations that result from that and the illnesses that result from that, and the mortality, Mr Martin said.
He was speaking as the Department of Health this evening reported 1,377 new Covid cases and said 78 patients were in hospital, with 22 in intensive care.
Nphet have done some remodelling and I will meeting public health authorities this week and we will be looking at how to we plan for August and for September.
All of us need to be vigilant in terms of our individual behaviours because this is a further twist in the road of Covid-19.
Mr Martin said that, as of now, foreign travel was set to resume from Monday with the operation of the EU Digital Covid Certificate for travel originating with the EU or European Economic Area, with indoor dining for fully vaccinated people restarting from July 26th.
He would not be drawn when asked whether the planned easing of restrictions was contingent on cases remaining below a certain threshold, such as 2,000 cases per day.