The Chief Medical Officer is urging everyone to act as if they have COVID-19.
Dr Tony Holohan says older and more vulnerable people should not leave their homes unless absolutely necessary.
The warning comes as record numbers of cases were confirmed yesterday at 3,394.
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98 of these were in Kerry, the highest daily figure for the county to date.
A backlog of around 9,000 positive results that overwhelmed IT systems is now being cleared, and is part of the reason the figures are so high.
Infectious diseases expert Professor Gerry Killeen expects even worse numbers in the days ahead:
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