Taoiseach Micheal Martin gives a Covid-19 lockdown update as various areas are being surveyed

Several areas are being closely watched as a potential for urban closures has emerged.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin said there was a particular concern for Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.

These concerns are mounting due to the return of schools, colleges and universities in the coming weeks.

The leader of Fianna Fail said that NPHET was concerned about these “urban centers” with a high population density.

Dublin has already been forced into a Level Three lockdown as a result of failing to contain the spread of the virus, and was followed last night by Donegal.

Other countries, including England and Scotland, have already implemented city-wide lockdowns after a spike in cases.

He told reporters in Cork this morning: “NPHET can advise in terms of particularly localized restrictions although, to date, it has been county by county.”

“The numbers are growing particularly in the cities and urbanized parts of those counties.

“That will ultimately be a matter for NPHET, as the Government advises. But our goal is to tell the people who live in these places: we can avoid having to go to Level Three.

“We can keep the numbers low. We can stabilize the numbers if we adhere to the guide and all of us, personally and collectively, do things that will prevent the virus from growing.”

“The rise of the virus has occurred within the community and in all places where there have been large concentrations.”

It also appears that two more counties could soon follow both Donegal and Dublin at Level Three due to high levels of coronavirus infections.

Louth and Waterford are still being closely watched, although the latter has seen a decline in the last day.

Louth’s confirmed case rate per 100,000 residents is now 107.8, according to the most recent HPSC data, while Waterford’s is back at 86.9.

Donegal currently has the worst rate in the country at 148.2 prompting the government to act and put the county at level three.

The Dublin rate remains high at 144.5 with the hope that it will begin to stabilize in the coming days.