An infectious disease consultant has warned the battle against COVID-19 can be won or lost in the final minutes.
Dr Corinna Sadlier, who is based at Cork University Hospital, is urging people not to become complacent.
She told Newstalk Breakfast there is a danger that restrictions will not be relaxed if the public does not continue to abide by them.
"It is the commitment of the public to the measures - which have been very difficult for everybody - that have suppressed the surge.
"Those of us in hospitals are acutely aware of that: we would have prepared for the worst, and we have to remember what that worst would have been.
"We saw what it potentially was in countries like Italy and in countries like Spain.
"And I think we have to remember what the measures that the public have bought into have helped us to avoid."
"The vast majority of people are being complaint with the measures, I suppose games can be won or lost in the final minutes.
"We kind of need to sustain the same levels of buy-in to get us to the point where it is safe to ease the restrictions.
"I think there is just concern that people are relaxing their commitment, or their buy-in, a little bit too early".
Dr Sadlier said we are in a good place now, but we need to stay there.
"I think those of us in the health service would feel we're in a much better position now than we would have expected to be."
"But there is a danger that if we don't get to the position that the public health team need us to be in, that they won't be able to relax the restrictions as they would like to".
It comes as data suggests an increase in activity in recent days.
Two graphs from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) on Thursday suggested people are moving around more.
The first, from the Irish National Seismic Network, showed data from an instrument used to measure earthquake activity that also picks up the movement of people and traffic.
The second displayed Apple Mobility Data, which also measures activity on the country’s roadways.
Both showed a sharp drop in activity since the restrictions were put in place; however, they also show an increase in activity in recent days.
