An infectious diseases consultant has said we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel in relation to the coronavirus - but that we need to stick to the plan.
Senior health officials are meeting to consider how any COVID-19 restrictions might be eased in two weeks.
There are now 15, 652 confirmed cases here and 687 people have died.
A further 77 deaths were reported on Monday – the highest daily fatality figure to date.
But infectious diseases consultant from Dublin's Beaumont Hospital, Dr Eoghan De Barra, told Newstalk Breakfast the figure is not as high as it seems.
"Every death is tragedy and it's made more difficult in these current issues that people, family members, aren't able to have the funerals they would like.
"We knew there'd be further deaths with COVID and unfortunately there will be more in the coming days and weeks."
"The other thing to point out about the death rate, as [Chief Medical Officer] Tony Holohan has tweeted overnight as well, that these 77 deaths were reported yesterday but they actually occurred over the prior 10 days or so.
Today’s figure for mortality was 77 notified deaths of laboratory confirmed #COVID19.
The graphs show that they occurred over a period of time and that our daily growth rate in the notification of these deaths by date of occurrence continues to decrease.
(1/2) pic.twitter.com/6ITTV5QBOt— Dr Tony Holohan (@CMOIreland) April 20, 2020
"Actually by day of deaths, the death rate has continued to fall.
"So there is actually good news mixed in there".
"The underlying figures are positive and if I was to have a message this morning it's about sticking with the plan.
"This is working, as a national effort we should be hugely proud of what we're achieving - but we need to stick with the plan".
"And often in an epidemic the difficult bit is when things start to look better in the figures [there] is the rush or the anxiety to lift those measures."
"I think we can start to see some light at the end of the tunnel, but we really need to stick with it now - cause this is the crucial time to actually make sure we continue to push the virus back".
