A rural GP says almost two thirds of people who are presenting to her clinic have had Covid in the past few weeks.
It comes as Covid case numbers over the period have remained largely stagnant at between 12,000 to 14,000 each day.
However Monaghan GP, Dr Illona Duffy, believes a large number of people aren't reporting their positive test.
She says the numbers on the ground tell a different story to the official figures.
"Monday was a busy day in the practice. And interestingly, lots of people that we're seeing about non COVID related issues are reporting to us that both they and their family had had COVID infection within the past few weeks.
"So I would say probably 60% of the patients I dealt with yesterday Monday had COVID within the past few weeks, which is really surprising."
