Chief Medical Officer says it's time for people to be hopeful and start planning for the summer 

Dr Tony Holohan says he wants next week to be a 'significant turning point' in the pandemic, as restrictions ease. 

It comes as 393 new cases and eight additional deaths were reported yesterday. 

123 Covid patients were in public hospitals last night, with 36 in intensive care - the lowest this year. 

Dr Gerald Barry, an assistant professor of virology in UCD, says people should be optimistic for the summer ahead: 

"I'm planning my holidays, gonna be travelling around Ireland as much as possible and getting out of my own county. I'm looking very hopefully on the future. I think, with the vaccination roll out the way it's going, The general burden of the virus in the country should be dramatically reduced in the coming months, and with that should come hope, and the ability for people to start to, I think, relax and return to an element of normality."