The Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan says while there's much attention on new variants, cases of the Delta strain of covid remain too high here.
It comes after 3,735 new cases of covid 19 were confirmed, with 576 people in hospital last night, including 117 in ICU.
Dr. Denis McCauley from the Irish Medical Organisation says while the new strain is a concern, the current one needs to be tackled.
"I think any new variant is a worry.
"We have to assess the level of virulence of this particular strain, and its infectivity.
"Before we are variant ready, we have to control the variant we have presently.
"I think the recent advice by the CMO is being heeded, and I think we're beginning to see that in the numbers."
