Senior civil servants will meet tomorrow ahead of NPHET's review on Thursday of mask wearing requirements in schools and other settings.
Masks are still mandatory in schools, in both retail and health settings, and on public transport until the end of the month.
There are indications politically that NPHET could recommend ending the need to wear masks in schools.
One factor likely to influence its thinking is the fact that most children aged over five years have now had the opportunity to be vaccinated.
In Leinster House today, politicians said they will support the public health advice on this issue, but People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy urged caution.
Mr Murphy said the incidence of Covid-19 in schools is still high and this is affecting people's education.
The requirement for masks outside of schools will also be examined by NPHET this week amid some optimism politically that they soon might no longer be mandated in retail areas or on public transport.
However, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has already said that he would like to see people wearing masks in shops and on public transport for some time yet, whether they are mandated or not.
There is also a possibility that NPHET will this week recommend a scaling back of Covid-19 testing.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Meanwhile, the Department of Health has been notified of a further 4,160 PCR-confirmed cases of Covid-19, with a further 4,655 positive antigen tests logged through the HSE portal.
There are 635 people in hospital with the virus, no change from yesterday.
The number of people receiving treatment in ICU has decreased in the last 24 hours by two from 67 to 65.
In Northern Ireland, four more people who had previously tested positive for Covid-19 have died.
Its Department of Health has also been notified of another 2,987 confirmed cases of the virus in the last 24-hour.
This morning, there were 476 Covid-19 patients in hospital, 12 of whom were in ICU.
