A professor of General Practice at the University of Limerick says Ireland needs to look at its border controls to keep the coronavirus at bay.
Dr Liam Glynn, who is also a GP in Co Clare, says the number of cases and deaths are going in the right direction.
But he told Newstalk Breakfast we need to take steps to ensure they stay that way.
He thanked the Irish people for their efforts, and said other steps need to happen now.
"We've seen the lowest [number] not only in terms of cases and the encouraging figures we saw this week - but thankfully the lowest daily rise in COVID-19 related deaths just yesterday.
"And even though every one of these is hugely heartbreaking for a family, it certainly thankfully is encouraging to see this figure continuing to fall".
"Certainly if we're pursuing a strategy of elimination, the figure we want is zero.
"And I think the Irish people have been incredibly sensible in terms of how they've responded to the calls for massive behavioural change and engagement with public health advice.
"And that's really been our greatest weapon against COVID-19: how every single person, every day, has conducted themselves in terms of their actions.
"But at the same time, it's like a fishing net and you're trying to catch this virus.
"There's still holes within the net and that's why I'm glad to see face coverings now coming into the picture in terms of recommendations.
"I think also we have to look at our border controls in terms of trade and travel.
"There's no point in putting in all this hard work and all these sacrifices to reduce these numbers and then to willy-nilly allow cases to cross our border and allow infections to rise again."
He also said the island should be looked at as a single epidemiological unit.
"We've done it before with other infectious diseases like Foot and Mouth, so we shouldn't be politicising this, we should be really trying to focus on reducing the number of cases on the island and making sure that number stays as low as possible".
