Five counties are being closely monitored by public health officials due to a rise in the level of Covid-19 infections as Kildare exits the local lockdown that was in place since August 7th.
Dublin, Limerick, Tipperary, Carlow and Wexford have each recorded a rise in Covid-19 cases over the last two weeks.
The National Public Health Emergency Team has asked people living in the counties to take extra care in following public health guidelines.
Chair of the NPHET Modelling Advisory Group, Professor Philip Nolan, says just because there may be a lot of cases, doesn't mean additional restrictions are needed.
Prof Nolan added that a local lockdown would not be the first course of action for any of the counties that are being closely monitored.
"These counties are each different from each other, you don't just look at a single figure like the incidence per hundred thousand people. You look at the pattern of the disease, the nature of the outbreak, how much you know about transmission and how much you don't know. It's where you don't know and you can't track the cases where you have a problem."
The lockdown in Kildare was lifted on Monday after NPHET met to review the situation.
The State's acting chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, said he wanted to recognise “the very significant impact of the measures on individuals, communities and businesses in Kildare over the past three weeks.”
He added: “At a meeting of the National Public Health Emergency Team today, NPHET thanked people in Kildare – and in Laois and Offaly previously – for their forbearance and noted that their actions are a demonstration, and a further reminder, of what can be achieved through collective action as we continue to strike a balance between living our lives and behaving in a way that protects one another.”
