A further 3,680 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed, according to a statement from the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on Thursday evening.

As of 8am on Thursday, 543 Covid-19 patients are hospitalised, of whom 97 are in ICU.

In Northern Ireland, 1,462 new cases were reported and there were six coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours.

Hospital Report

The Minister for Health has said that the Government is not “looking at” a return to working from home full-time.

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People must reduce social contacts to counter ‘serious rise’ in Covid cases – Donnelly

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Stephen Donnelly said on Thursday that the Government had not received any advice from public health officials on the issue.

The Minister’s comments came as the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) is due to meet on Thursday to decide whether further public health measures are needed to tackle high infection rates.

Chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said a recommendation that employees generally work from home is "one of the considerations" that will be discussed at the meeting before a recommendation is made to Government.

He noted advice from the UK’s Nphet equivalent that advising people to work from home is likely to have the most impact on the virus spreading this winter.

However, speaking on Newstalk Breakfast, Mr Donnelly said: “In terms of regulation or Government policy, that is not something we are looking at.”

Mr Donnelly added that the Government was not considering extending the requirement of Covid certs to other areas such as gyms and hairdressers.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he does not anticipate a dramatic return to restrictions.

Mr Martin said that the country was in a different and better position now because of the success of the vaccine campaign. Had it not been for the vaccine campaign the country would be back in lockdown, he told Today FM’s Dermot & Dave show.

He said the vaccine booster campaign was important and he expected it to be expanded, but people’s behaviour was also important.

Mr Martin said he does not “see Christmas lockdowns”, but the number of high cases at present was worrying.

Mr Donnelly also said the Government did not want to shut down anything, but warned that in order to get the spread of Covid-19 back under control people must reduce their social contacts.

The public should “cut back on the less important things”, he urged, and choose what was important to them.

When asked if school Christmas events should go ahead, Mr Donnelly said that reducing social contacts was not as simple as picking one individual thing and saying “this can or cannot happen”.

Halve contacts

Dr Holohan urged the public on Wednesday to halve their social contacts in an effort to stop the virus spreading.

The Department of Health had "taken a leadership step" by reinstating a working-from-home rule for its employees, he told a Nphet briefing. Up to recently department staff could go to the office once a week.

Current Government policy proposes a "phased and staggered" return to the workplace, but Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has suggested a full return will not happen until next spring.

It was reported on Wednesday that 74 people died in the past week due to Covid-19, and a further 2,975 cases of Covid-19 were recorded.

There were 513 people being treated in hospital with Covid-19, 88 of whom were in intensive care, according to figures from the Health Service Executive.

Dr Holohan said health officials are not considering reimposing restrictions “at this point in time”, but are considering what additional measures are needed to augment the current approach.

This is focused on encouraging people to reduce social contacts, accelerating the rollout of booster vaccines and ensuring compliance by the hospitality sector with virus-pass rules.