The Cabinet Sub-Committee on COVID-19 has agreed that lockdown should be extended until at least March 5th.
It has also agreed to increased Garda checkpoints at ports and airports - as well as more checks for returning holidaymakers who do not have an essential reason to travel.
There would be increased fines associated with this.
The sub-committee also agreed on a mandatory two-week quarantine in a state-chosen hotel for those arriving to Ireland without a negative PCR test.
There would be a possible €2,500 fine or six month prison term on top of that.
Cabinet sub-committee agrees:
- Mandatory 2 week quarantine for those arriving to Ireland without a negative PCR test
- Possible €2.5k fine or 6 month prison term on top of that
- Mandatory quarantine for all arrivals from Brazil & South Africa too— Seán Defoe (@SeanDefoe) January 25, 2021
It has also recommended mandatory quarantine for all arrivals from Brazil and South Africa.
This proposal will now go to the full Cabinet for consideration on Tuesday.
There were seven more deaths related to COVID-19 and 1,372 additional confirmed cases in Ireland on Monday.
The Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) says all of these deaths occurred in January.
The median age of those who died is 77 years - and the age range is between 43 and 94 years.
There has been a total of 2,977 coronavirus related deaths and 188,923 confirmed cases in Ireland.
Next vaccination stage
It comes as Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said people aged over-70 and older will start being vaccinated against coronavirus from next month.
However this is subject to regulatory approval of AstraZeneca - which has said deliveries to the EU are set to be cut by 60%.
While MEP for Ireland-South Seán Kelly has criticised the pharmaceutical firm.
He told The Hard Shoulder earlier: "They got €336m in August for 300 million doses - that was to ensure that their supply chains and production lines would be ramped up, to expand production capacity and now they're saying they can't deliver.
"That is just not good enough".
But Minister Donnelly said: "Despite anticipated disruption to deliveries, which was announced on Friday January 22nd, Ireland will receive a delivery of AstraZeneca vaccine within the expected range for February, although at the lower end of that range.
"Delivery in March is likely to be more impacted and considerably lower than what was originally stated by the company.
"We continue to prioritise those most vulnerable to COVID-19 in our society against the backdrop of limited supply of vaccines."
