Holohan said move to level 5 or face 2,500 Covid cases daily

As Level 5 restrictions are set to come into effect from midnight tonight, members of the public are pictured at the Aviva Stadium Community Testing Centre today, where the Defence Forces are supporting the HSE by running a Covid testing centre. Photograph: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Ahead of Level 5 lockdown restrictions being put in place, the country’s most senior doctor told the Government that Ireland could be facing up to 2,500 cases of Covid-19 daily by the end of this month.

In a letter to Health Minister Stephen Donnelly from last Thursday, October 15, outlining health chiefs’ recommendation to go to the highest lockdown levels, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said implementing Level 5 restrictions was necessary to ease the burden on the health system, as it heads into winter.