Ireland’s intensive care units could be at capacity within days.

The Taoiseach said the health service is making an “unprecedented effort” to find extra capacity and more ventilators.

The number of COVID-19 deaths in the Republic more than doubled yesterday with the confirmation that 10 more people had died.

Meanwhile the number of confirmed cases rose to 1,819.

Leo Varadkar said the rise in cases will put increasing pressure on Ireland’s ICUs in the coming weeks.

“As things stand, we have empty beds in our ICUs, which is unusual,” he said.

“Usually in Ireland our ICUs are full. At the moment we have spare capacity but just the way things are heading would indicate that our ICUs will be at capacity within a few days.

“That is already the case across Europe. It looks like it may happen here, so we need to plan for that.”

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says he’d be surprised if there were less than 1,000 deaths from #covid19 in Ireland, similar to a bad flu season pic.twitter.com/4GyOfdl2HF

— Stephen Murphy (@Stephen_Murphy5) March 27, 2020

He said he would be surprised if there were less than 1,000 deaths from the virus before it has run its course.

He said his thoughts are with the families of those that have died already and warned that there will be many more in the weeks to come.

“We are still only learning about it but If you take the average flu season in Ireland, there will be roughly 500 deaths,” he said. “If you take a bad flu season in Ireland there will be roughly 1,000 deaths.”

“So, it would be a surprise – and a very pleasant surprise – if the number of deaths at the end of this is less than 1,000.

“But it is impossible to predict at this stage. That is just a rough idea of what we may be in for.

“Just like the flu season, those most at risk are older people and people who have chronic diseases.”

The country's top health officials are meeting again this afternoon to discuss Ireland's response to the virus.