Taoiseach Says Government Won't Speed Up Lifting Of Covid Restrictions Because Of Delta Variant Concerns

There have been 188 cases of the strain in Ireland so far - but according to NPHET, the pandemic is still shrinking

Micheal Martin says this week will be the biggest yet for the vaccination programme, with over 330,000 doses administered.

But despite the positive signs, the easing of measures won't be brought forward:

"We're going to keep it steady throughout June, as outlined. We won't be advancing anything or accelerating anything. Some of that is caution in respect of the Delta variant. But so far, the last two weeks have been very good. And what the epidemiologists are saying that really since May, we've been on a downward spiral in terms of the prevalence of the virus. So, so far, so good."