We’re back here again.

Cabinet will meet today to discuss the latest recommendations made by NPHET, including advice that all hospitality should close at 5pm over the Christmas period. This would include bars, restaurants, pubs and cinemas.

It is also expected that the guidelines around sporting events will change, with capacity to be significantly reduced. Schools are expected to remain open.

An announcement on the latest advice is expected some time later today.

The advice from NPHET comes amid serious anxiety regarding the Omicron variant of Covid, which appears to be more transmissible than the Delta variant, and also more likely to re-infect those who have already had Covid.

Various measures have been put in place in order to speed up the booster programme, such as cutting the wait time between the second shot and the booster to three months, getting rid of the 15 minute observation period following the vaccination, and expansion of the programme to include those under-50 for GPs and pharmacies who have finished vaccinating those in the 50-59 age cohort.

4,141 new cases of the virus were confirmed yesterday. 443 people are currently in hospital with Covid, 105 of which are in ICU.