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The 14-day incidence rate of Covid-19 per 100,000 people has remained below 100 for the second day in a row and is now 94.
Donegal continues to have the highest rate in the country at 216, followed by Louth and Limerick, while Wexford has the lowest rate at 31.
Yesterday there were 243 more cases of coronavirus along with seven more deaths.
It comes before Tuesday’s move to level 3 restrictions with the reopening of stores, while restaurants will reopen from Friday.
A public health expert has said that the Irish do not need to be used as test subjects to prove that Covid-19 spreads in bars.
DCU professor Anthony Staines says there is more than enough data from other countries to show the risks in the hotel sector.
“For most of the people in Ireland, we don’t know where they got infected. In most other European countries they are doing this monitoring so that we have a clear idea of where people are getting infected,” said Professor Staines.
“The Vintners and the restaurant association are rightly saying that in the Irish data, we just don’t know. But in the international data, we probably do.”
The Irish Vintners Federation accuses the Government of hypocrisy for dividing the bar trade in two.
The group says that more than 22,000 people will remain on PUP pay through Christmas and will have no chance of returning to work in the new year.
The executive director of the Irish Vintners Federation, Padraig Cribben, says this shows that the government does not trust the bar owners.
“The Taoiseach said in his speech that it was a matter of personal responsibility and trust,” Cribben said.
“In effect, what you are saying is that the Government does not trust the innkeepers, it does not trust the 22,000 people employed by them and, in particular, it does not trust the patrons who frequent these points of sale.
“I think it’s very sad.”
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