A closing time of midnight is to be reintroduced from Thursday for restaurants, bars and nightclubs.
Four weeks after allowing the hospitality sector to end the 11:30pm curfew, the Government is to introduce a closing time of midnight.
Plans agreed by Cabinet on Tuesday morning will see work from home advice take effect from Friday.
Cinemas and theatres will require COVID-19 certificates for entry but this will not apply at hairdressers or gyms.
A new policy agreed means that household contacts of a person with COVID will have to restrict their movements for five days and take three antigen tests.
Figures from the INMO published on Tuesday detailed that 95 patients were waiting for beds at University Hospital Limerick, a record breaking number.
On Monday night, the Government was presented with the prospect that rising Covid-19 numbers could mean that up to 500 people would require ICU care next month. The best case scenario projected between 200 to 220 people needing ICU beds, with 1,100 to 1,200 requiring hospital care at a point next month. The revised modelling says there is the potential for a large wave of infection, still peaking in late November, or early December, but higher than previous models due to waning immunity from vaccination.
