The Health Minister will meet top officials today to arrange for new measures to tackle Covid-19 in nursing homes.
There are now 17 clusters of the coronavirus in nursing homes across the state.
Yesterday, it was revealed 10 more people died of the illness in the Republic, and a further 200 cases.
Simon Harris says he's very worried about the prevalence of the illness among older people.
"I am concerned to see a significant amount of infection now breaking out nursing homes.
"We will be meeting with he nursing home sector, and more importantly the Chief Medical Officer is having a number of meetings with in advance of the the National Public Health Emergency Team meeting on Tuesday.
"I expect you're going to see a number of measures aimed at minding and protecting those that our in our nursing homes, and also long term residential facilities, and also our staff that work there."
