Explainer: Why are we talking about covid again? 

HSE chief clinical officer Dr Colm Henry said he does not expect a national mask-wearing mandate in healthcare settings, although sites can introduce this locally if needed.

Why is covid-19 in the news again?

Cases of a new variant, called EG.5, nicknamed Eris, have been slowly increasing over the summer. This week the World Health Organization said while it is tracking a number of variants, it has now declared Eris as a 'variant of interest'. It does not meet the threshold for the higher alert level ‘variant of concern’. The WHO said while Eris is causing more serious illness than other variants, including Omicron of which it is a descendant, it is more transmissible.