Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the Republic is unlikely to see 15,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus by the end of this month, as he had previously warned.
The Fine Gael leader said earlier this month that the number of cases reach 15,000 by the end of March.
But with the number of confirmed cases so far sitting at 1,329, this level is unlikely to be reached in the next week.
Mr Varadkar warned against any complacency in the fight against the spread of the disease.
Speaking during a briefing at Government Buildings in Dublin, Mr Varadkar cautioned that while this accounted for confirmed cases, “there are many, many more cases out there that are not confirmed”.
He also said that while restrictions on movement did seem to be having an effect, “it is certainly the case that the number of new cases is continuing to rise.
“We’re still seeing not far off 200 new cases every day and we can’t even being to contemplate the idea that we’re containing this virus until we start to see the number of new cases every day fall, and fall consistently.”
Health minister Simon Harris said the country was just at the beginning of the crisis.
He said the health service would “temporarily acquire hotels in the coming days”.
Private hospitals have become part of the public system during the outbreak, he said.
“Everything that can be done, will be done,” he said. “Financial constraints have not been in place in this regard.”
