The National Public Health Emergency Team has recommended a series of new hospitality restrictions alongside a limit on gatherings in the household this Christmas.

The Cabinet sub-committee on COVID is set to meet this morning to consider NPHET's advice.

That will be followed by a full Cabinet meeting this afternoon, likely followed by an announcement this evening about any new measures.

It is believed health officials have called for new limits on opening hours, as well as banning multiple table bookings and reducing the numbers permitted at a table to six.

Government will also consider asking people to limit the number of households they mix with this Christmas.

Last night, a further 4,163 new COVID cases were confirmed with the Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan warning that the figures are stabilising at ‘too high a level’.

He warned that the "trajectory of the disease remains uncertain" with the arrival of the Omicron variant meaning officials can’t be sure what is going to happen next.

The HSE chief Paul Reid told Newstalk that, while the figures are stabilising, they are doing so at “a very high level”.

“Should this turn again at a period that we know is high risk around Christmas – this could be a really difficult winter for us,” he said.

Mr Reid said there has been a 'very serious scaling up' of the vaccine booster programme is recent days.

He said almost 900,000 boosters have been administered so far – including 215,000 in the last week.