The Assistant Secretary at the Department of the Taoiseach has said a number of counties "are now showing concerning trends" with regard to the number of coronavirus cases.
Speaking at a Government press briefing, Liz Canavan said counties "Louth, Waterford, Limerick, Kildare, Leitrim, Donegal and Offaly are now showing concerning trends."
She said concern not only existed over Dublin, but nationally also, with upward trends in all but six counties.
Ms Canavan said Co Louth has seen 120 cases in last two weeks compared to 18 in previous two weeks, while Donegal has seen 102 cases in the past fortnight, compared to 18 in the previous period.
Counties like Limerick, Waterford and Wicklow were also seeing significant rises, she said.
In Wicklow over the last number of weeks, numbers have "jumped" from 19 to 99.
"Outside of these counties," she said, "there are worrying trends in most areas."
"We are currently at Level 2 of the framework nationally and we want to stay there or improve to Level 1.
"We don't want go the other way."
"While there has been a significant focus on Dublin ... Louth, Waterford, Limerick, Kildare, Leitrim, Donegal and Offaly are now showing concerning trends". Donegal has seen 102 cases in the past fortnight, compared to 18 in the previous period | https://t.co/3C6wuug7FI pic.twitter.com/K2MdBWBaSe
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 21, 2020
Ms Canavan said "the profile of the disease in Dublin is at an extremely critical juncture".
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She said based on the modelling available, if the current progress of the virus remains unchanged, the Department believes there will be between 500-1,000 cases per day in a month's time, 50-60% would be in Dublin.
"When levels of community transmission are high, any gathering can become an event which causes wider infection," she said.
Ms Canavan said the decision to move Dublin to Level 3 had been taken in an effort to protect our priorities, protect the most vulnerable, resume non-Covid health and social care, and maintain educational activities.
"We need to keep our people in work and businesses operating by living with the pandemic," she said.
"It is clear that virus figures are increasing rapidly across the country," Liz Canavan says, adding that the profile of #Covid19 is at a critical juncture in Dublin | https://t.co/3C6wuug7FI pic.twitter.com/NffIAxjlQX
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) September 21, 2020
The senior civil servant also said that each level of the Government's Living with Covid-19 plan has measures which aim to limit where people can gather.
She said that this is "in response to an assessment that the risk is increasing".
"There are priorities, there are choices. There are really hard choices," she said.
"They don't set out to suggest that some groups, businesses or settings are to blame for transmission.
"It is simply that some things by their nature create ideal conditions for the virus and some things are more important than others. So if we want to slow the virus in its tracks, we have to eliminate some of the situations where it will seek out new hosts. It is as complicated and as simple as that."
She said that we must work together to stop the spread of the virus, advising people to limit the number of people they meet.
Ms Canavan recommended "keeping groups small, and seeing them regularly, rather than meeting lots of different people from lots of different households."
Professor Philip Nolan said that limiting contacts is a primary defence in combating the virus, and that the number of Covid-19 cases can be brought "under control".
Louth GP says rising case numbers 'concerning'
A GP in Co Louth has said the increase in the number of cases of Covid-19 in the county is concerning.
Dr Amy Morgan, GP in Bryanstown Medical Centre in Drogheda, said they would see what is potentially going to be the knock-on affect from that in the next few weeks.
She said they can see that the incidence is rising and their main objective is to shield and protect the most vulnerable.
Dr Morgan said we know what to do and that have brought these numbers down before, so it is really a question of going back to basics and following the public health advice.
Additional reporting: Helen Donohue
