The incidence rate of Covid-19 has increased in every county over the past week.
Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn says there have been 7,700 cases in the past seven days - up 88 per cent on the previous week.
Donegal has the highest 14-day incidence rate at 725 per 100,000 population - followed by Louth at 474.
1,110 cases were confirmed yesterday - and Dr David Nabarro, from the World Health Organisation, says the situation's worrying.
"Yes I'm concerned that the Delta variant, which is more transmissible, is becoming more widespread in Ireland.
"Please don't take too much notice of other countries that are dropping all restrictions even though they've got a rise in case numbers - theirs is quite an experiment.
"Please hold the line in Ireland to actually do what you can to prevent this virus from spreading."
