COUNTIES CAVAN, DONEGAL and Monaghan are now under Level 4 Covid-19 restrictions after the government’s announcement from Wednesday has come into effect.

The move to the second-highest level of the Living with Covid-19 plan was confirmed by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who said it would begin from midnight of this morning until Tuesday 10 November.

It comes after after the Northern Ireland Executive introduced its own tough new measures earlier this week. 

The move to Level 4 has a range of implications for people living in Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal, significantly meaning that only essential retail outlets are to remain open.

Another significant change that occurs under Level 4 is that weddings are to be reduced to just six guests, from 25 at Level 3. 

On weddings, the Taoiseach said the reduction in number will not come into effect until after this coming weekend.

The 23 other counties under Level 3 are now also now facing tougher restrictions, with the mixing of different households in peoples’ homes banned under the updated guidance. 

Speaking in the Dáil yesterday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar said that while the move to Level 4 was a “bitter blow” for the counties involved, everyone needed to adhere to the same advice around staying safe. 

“Whether we’re at Level 1,2,3,4,5 or 26, if people aren’t doing what they need to do, it’s not going to work,” Varadkar said. 

Dublin has been at Level 3 for almost a month, with Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tony Holohan saying last night that an initial slowdown in the growth rate in Dublin appears to have reversed.

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“We saw an impact on the growth rate that Dublin was experiencing beforehand, and it did reduce but we have seen in recent days further escalation in the number of cases in Dublin,” he said.

Holohan also said that some consideration is being given to developing guidance on social bubbles, so people living along or single parents aren’t left isolated.  

Since Wednesday’s announcement, increased focus is being placed on employers to encourage employees to work from home if possible, with the Taoiseach saying we need to “go back to remote working”.

“We need a communication strategy to employers, absolutely a change of tone to say that in nearly all circumstances, bar where it is totally necessary, people have to work from home if that is possible,” Labour leader Alan Kelly has said.

Yesterday evening, 1,205 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in the Republic of Ireland with the NPHET saying that there was evidence the epidemic here was accelerating.