The Chief Medial Officer is warning that current Covid-19 trends are not sustainable for the health system.
There are fears the HSE may not be able to provide tests to people with symptoms due to demand, instead focusing on vulnerable groups.
4,962 more cases were reported last night, including 169 in Clare, the highest figure confirmed in a single day in this county. since the beginning of the pandemic.
Yesterday there were 673 people in hospital with the virus, a rise of 86 percent in a week, with 37 of those being treated at University Hospital Limerick.
Public health expert, DCU Professor Anthony Staines says there may be a need in the future to cancel elective surgeries and transplant operations.
Meanwhile, vaccines will start to be given to nursing home residents in parts of the country today.
The Health Minister Stephen Donnelly plans to give people in the country’s 580 nursing homes the first doses by the end of January, with the first nursing home residents in Clare due to receive the jab on the 18th of this month.
