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Irish paramedics have crossed the border to help their Northern Ireland counterparts this weekend.
It comes as the health service in the north continues to face heavy pressure amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Another 17 people with Covid-19 have died, bringing the death toll to 1,183.
The Health Department also confirmed another 640 new cases of the virus.
On Saturday there were 427 Covid-19 patients in hospitals, including 30 in the ICU.
The hospital occupancy rate was 101%.
There are 82 active outbreaks of coronavirus in nursing homes across the region.
Health Service (HSE) Executive Director Paul Reid said teams from Ireland’s National Ambulance Services had started working together with colleagues from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service on Friday evening.
“The health of the people [is] taking priority, ”he said.
The National Ambulance Service tweeted that he was working alongside colleagues from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service in Belfast.
The Executive unanimously agreed on Thursday to impose a radical six-week blockade that will take effect on Saint Stephen’s Day.
The first week of those measures will see the toughest lockdown yet in Northern Ireland, with a form of curfew in place starting at 8pm, shops closed after that time, and all indoor and outdoor gatherings. prohibited until 6 am.
Non-essential retail will close for the six weeks, as will contact services closed. Hotel establishments will be limited to take away food services.
Organized sport will also be banned, with elite sport included in the ban for the first week.
Northern Ireland’s political leaders have faced each other amid a blame game over rising rates of Covid-19 infection in the region.
Prime Minister Arlene Foster said a decline in regulatory compliance was due to the attendance of high-level Sinn Fein figures at the funeral of IRA veteran Bobby Storey at a time when strict limits on numbers were being enforced. .
The DUP leader, who also spoke of a failure of society as a whole, made the claims after Sinn Fein Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill accused the DUP of acting against public health councils by oppose stronger measures at the start of the pandemic.
On Tuesday, queues of ambulances were witnessed at Northern Ireland’s accident and emergency (ED) departments as patients were being treated in car parks due to lack of capacity within hospitals.
At one point, 17 ambulances with patients lined up outside the emergency department at the Antrim Area Hospital.
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