Today is traditionally a ‘back to work’ day after Christmas.

But health experts have warned the public to stay at home for the foreseeable future, after a further 4,962 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in the past 24 hours with seven further deaths from the disease.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Six One News, Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said: “we all need to act as if it’s March 2020, unfortunately, once again.”

With 685 coronavirus patients hospitalised, of which 62 are in ICU, Dr Glynn asked the public to cut contacts to “all but those that are absolutely essential over the coming week”.

“I know that’s a very difficult message but it’s one that people really need to hear tonight,” he said.

“Tonight there are nearly 700 families across the country that have people in hospital, there are 60 families across the country that have people in critical care.”

“I know there have been many occasions where we have said the next five days, the next seven days, the next ten days is a really critical period, but that has never been more true than it is as I stand here tonight,” Dr Glynn said.

‘Behind each statistic is a real person’

Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said Ireland is facing “a deeply concerning level of preventable sickness and suffering that we must work together to address as quickly as possible.”

Dr Holohan said the number of people in hospital with COVID-19 has more than doubled from this day last week, and so has the number of people in ICU.

“Remember that behind each hospital statistic and ICU figure is a real person like you, with a family who cares about them, and a team of healthcare workers dedicated to protecting their lives,” he said.

“Act as though you are infectious. Stay at home. Work from home starting from tomorrow, and if you are an employer, ask your employees to work at home. What we all do at a collective level today will have a direct impact on the level of infection and hospitalisations in the weeks to come.”