Eleven more people with Covid-19 have died in Ireland, the Department of Health has said.
There have now been 1,571 Covid-19 related deaths here.
There have also been 64 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 24,315.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn said the message to employers is as much as possible limit employees coming to the workplace.
He said as much as possible, they should also limit meetings to less than two hours to minimise the risk in the event that someone in that room becomes symptomatic subsequently and is confirmed to have a case of Covid-19.
He said all sectors of society have to weigh up the risk and benefit of each situation.
"There's no relaxation of measures that doesn't result in at least some level of increased risk," he added.
The Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Ronan Glynn has said that 21,060 people have recovered from Covid-19 here. He said this amounts to 87.1% of all laboratory-confirmed cases | Read live updates: https://t.co/08Q6VihgVO pic.twitter.com/ncJQFAyGp9
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 20, 2020
Dr Ronan Glynn says that as Ireland's Covid-19 figures peaked at a later date than many other countries in Europe it is allowing us to learn from them as we re-open our country and try avoid an increase in cases | Read live updates: https://t.co/08Q6VihgVO pic.twitter.com/3ByR1Pv2Kn
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 20, 2020
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When asked about the planned reopening of some Dublin pubs under a restaurant licence, Dr Glynn said it was not intended "that pubs, at least in the traditional sense we understand pubs would open back up on that date".
'There was not an intention that pubs would open on that date,' Dr Ronan Glynn says when asked about reports that 40% of Dublin pubs plan to reopen as restaurants at the end of June | Read more: https://t.co/YIxS496Ir2 pic.twitter.com/b0zUiGEFZ2
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) May 20, 2020
He said the Department of Health had given broad guidance and it hoped that sectors would adhere to that guidance and "regardless of which sector we're talking about, the priority has to be the safety of employees and obviously customers and clients using those services".
Regarding queues at McDonald's and gardaí clearing people at the Forty Foot in Dublin, Dr Glynn said "clearly the majority of people across the entirety of society have stuck with us on this. They have followed the guidelines and it's thanks to those efforts that the numbers have come down, that we're going in the right direction and if people stick with that, hopefully in another two weeks, we'll be able to recommend the relaxation of further measures so that we can all move forward in a positive way".
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In relation to the issue of whether people can be in a room together for more than two hours, Dr Glynn said that the "two hour" guidance is used by public health doctors after someone is confirmed to have Covid-19.
He said he was not privy to the specific guidelines given to the Oireachtas but the HPSC guidelines are that people who share a close space with a confirmed case for longer than two hours could be considered "close contacts" and would have to self isolate.
He said a risk assessment will be undertaken that takes into consideration issues including the size of the room, ventilation and the distance the person was sitting from the confirmed case.
Dr Glynn said that is not to say that every business and organisation in the country cannot have people in the same room for more than two hours, but if there is a confirmed case and people have been in the same room for more than two hours, they will be categorised as close contacts.
He said the message to employers is, as much as possible to limit people coming to work and to work from home, and limit meetings so you are minimising risk.
Dr Glynn said everything that is being done as part of the response to Covid-19 is a balance of risk and benefit.
Dept 'continuously thinking' about schools
Regarding the phased reopening of schools, Dr Glynn said Ireland has an opportunity to look and learn from what is happening as schools reopen in Europe "to ensure that when we do reopen components of that, that we can learn from best practice and avoid an increase in cases".
He said Professor Navarro said we should think about it and Dr Glynn added: "We're continuously thinking about it, but in particular, we're thinking about how it can be done in the best manner possible."
He said on NPHET, they are not experts when it comes to school environments, but will be guided by colleagues across Government in relation to that.
He said their job "is to look at the evidence that's emerging internationally and we would be delighted if there was evidence suggests that there isn't a risk or the risk is low and we can move forward with that. But again, it would be remiss of us, given the opportunity that we have relative to other countries, not to take the opportunity to learn from their experiences over what is a relatively short time-frame of a couple of weeks".
He said they are very aware of the effects this is having on parents and children in terms of not being able to go to school.
Dr Glynn said "colleagues in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs are already looking at the issues of creches, how best to reopen them, what measures might need to be in place for the protection of the children, the protection of the staff and the protection of the families of the children."
Regardless of the sector, he added, whether it's a fast food outlet or another outlet, all measures, such as hand-washing and social distancing, should continue to apply.
HSE Chief Clinical Officer Dr Colm Henry said there has been a dramatic fall in the number of healthcare workers who have applied to avail of the temporary accommodation scheme.
He said this drop was as a result of no new outbreaks in nursing homes and a small number of new cases of Covid-19.
This is not to say "we won't need that in the future," he added.
He did not have figures, but said "three or four weeks ago, there was quite significant demand and it's dropped off quite considerably".
Dr Henry commented that the scheme was introduced for healthcare workers who had acquired the virus or were in danger of acquiring the virus in congregated settings where they were living.
