The head of the HSE says he’s concerned about the knock on effect of the current crisis on cancer patients and those with other illnesses.
There are now almost 23,000 confirmed coronavirus cases here and 1,458 people have lost their lives.
Hospitals can start doing some non-urgent surgeries from today after they were stopped to prepare for the pandemic.
Paul Reid says there are concerns about how people with other illnesses are being affected.
"We have to do this now in a way that's very different.
"We have to keep our hospital capacity at about 80%, and not 95% or 100% as we ran it previously, because we have to plan for the uncertainties of Covid - if we have a second surge or whatever happens next, it's not very predictable"
