Covid-19 cases plateau as 'social mixing' increases

Professor Philip Nolan, chair of the Nphet Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, Dr Ronan Glynn, deputy chief medical officer, Department of Health, and Dr Cillian de Gascun, medical virologist and director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, at the Covid -19 update press conference at the Department of Health. Picture Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin

The fall in Covid-19 case numbers has plateaued over the last 10 days due to an increase in "mobility, congregation, and social mixing", a member of the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) has warned.

"It's not clear to any of us what is going to happen next. If people have cut back on their level of social contact and mobility over the last week or fortnight, then we might expect case numbers to decline; if we haven't then case numbers could remain stable or increase," Professor Philip Nolan, chair of the Irish Epidemiological Modelling Advisory Group, told the Nphet press conference.