Covid-19 Cabinet Sub-Committee Meet Today To Discuss Extending Level 5 Restrictions Into Next Month

They will also look at proposals around travel, including five day quarantine for people who arrive into the country without a negative PCR test.

It comes as 1,378 more people have tested positive for the virus including 145 in Cork, while 23 further deaths have been announced.

Cork GP and member of NPHET, Dr Mary Favier says its critically important employers allow their staff work from home to help slow the spread of the disease:

"I'd suggest they try to talk to their other colleagues and approach as a group, talk to their line manager. Ideally, they'd have a union, and if they're not in one consider joining one. This needs to be a negotiation, but there are very few employments where people can't work creatively from home, that's a really important principle- we did it back in March, we know the difference now in terms of the amount of mobility data. People are moving around a lot more and that's because they're being expected to go into work."