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Gastronomic restaurants and pubs will be closed from lunch on December 24, according to plans to be presented to the Cabinet today.
Travel within the county will be prohibited beginning at midnight on December 26.
The travel ban to and from Britain is also expected to last until December 31.
Cabinet will discuss a final decision on home visit limits.
Nonessential retail will remain open, but personal services like hair salons and barbers will close. Gyms and sports such as golf and tennis will be allowed.
The restrictions are described as Level 5 minus.
The decision comes after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Covid-19.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said that public health physicians and infectious disease specialists are “deeply concerned” about how quickly the virus has spread in recent weeks.
Minister Donnelly told reporters this morning that the new strain of the Covid-19 virus has public health experts “very concerned.”
The minister told reporters: “On Christmas Day, a large number of people in every county in this country will sit down with their families and have a Christmas day that they otherwise would not have if this virus had gotten out. of control”. . “
Minister Donnelly stressed that the Pfizer vaccine has been authorized in advance and that the government would launch plans “starting today” to get the vaccine here and confirmed that “we will start vaccinating this side of the New Year.”
Transport Minister Eamon Ryan said Nphet is very concerned about the rate of growth in all age groups, including the oldest.
“That is different than what happened in October and November, when they were mainly young.”
The minister says that he believes that the measures that the cabinet will agree on later are “necessary from what we are seeing.”
“When you lose control, it is very difficult to regain it, so we want to maintain control as we have in this country.”
Ryan said the restrictions will apply on a series of staggered dates rather than all on a single day. He also said that the ban on travel to and from the UK due to the new strain of coronavirus spreading there will be extended beyond the original 48 hours. The minister said it would be “towards the end of the year” before the ban is lifted.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, and Ryan were informed by Medical Director Tony Holohan about the significant increase in new Covid-19 cases.
Holohan told the meeting that Level 5 restrictions will be needed after Christmas to stop the spread of the virus.
The meeting came after the government banned flights and passenger flights from Britain due to the emergence of a new, more rapidly spreading strain of the coronavirus.
Restaurants and pubs were to stay open until December 30 and inter-county entry was expected to be allowed until January 6. However, the rise in new cases coupled with concerns about the new strain have forced the government to reconsider its approach to Christmas. period.
The Cabinet will meet this morning to discuss a memorandum outlining the latest measures.
Irish Restaurant Association Chief Executive Adrian Cummins said the restrictions will be a “devastating and crushing blow” to businesses.
“The short notice will mean thousands of euros of stock per location lost to waste,” Cummins said.
“We are now asking the government to provide a financial aid package for the restaurant sector, which has stabilized economically for the last 9 months.
“The package must be specific, impactful and substantial to support 180,000 restaurant and hospitality workers and 20,000 companies,” he added.
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