It will be a quiet start to 2021.

Ireland’s latest Covid-19 restrictions will likely remain in place throughout January and possibly longer, depending on case numbers after Christmas.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that Level 5 restrictions are really only coming into effect in the coming days, meaning it will be at least a fortnight until any decrease in cases is seen.

With 774 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours and four additional deaths from the disease, Mr Varadkar also said the latest figures are “artificially low” as fewer people took coronavirus tests on Christmas Day.

“We know that won’t be reflected in a fall in case numbers until the first or second week in January … a very small number of people attended for tests around Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day, which has shown an artificially low number yesterday,” he said.

Mr Varadkar said that while there are no plans to delay the reopening of schools, Level 5 restrictions are likely to continue past the initial date of January 12th, 2021:

“I can’t speak for the entire Government on this and things can change very rapidly between now and the 12th of January but given that the restrictions are only coming in now, I don’t think we would start to see numbers fall until the first or second week in January, therefore they would not have fallen enough by the 12th of January,” he said.

‘The growth rate of the epidemic has accelerated’

With 246 new cases in Dublin, 131 in Cork, 51 in Limerick, 40 in Wexford, 33 in Donegal and the remaining 243 cases spread across 19 other counties, Dr Tony Holohan also confirmed that there are higher levels of disease circulating in the community than the latest reported case numbers reflect.

“We have seen a significant increase in the number of hospitalisations in the last two weeks from less than 190 to 324 today. This indicates a deteriorating disease trajectory nationally and is a significant reminder of the severity of this disease,” he said.

“There have been further increases across key indicators of COVID-19 right across the country and the growth rate of the epidemic has accelerated in recent days.

“Due to the lower volume of tests being carried out over Christmas Day and yesterday, we believe there are higher levels of disease circulating in the community than today’s reported case numbers reflect. We expect, therefore, to see a large increase in cases reported over the coming days.”

“If we do not act now to stop the spread of COVID-19, we will not be able to protect those in our society that are most at risk of serious illness or death.”

Dr Holohan advised the public to “stay home, do not visit friends or family unless you are providing essential care and do not have visitors to your home.”