The country is to return to level 5 of the Government's COVID-19 plan from Christmas Eve until January 12, with a number of "specific adjustments", the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, has said.

According to Mr Martin, we are now looking at a daily growth of the virus of 10%, which he described as a "source of serious concern that is simply not sustainable".

"Unfortunately, in the last week, we have seen extraordinary growth in the spread of the virus. This is the same pattern that we have seen in the UK and across Europe," he noted.

Mr Martin said that given this growth, the Government is proceeding on the assumption that the more virulent strain of the virus, which has recently been detected in the UK, "is already here".

As part of the latest restrictions, from 3pm on Christmas Eve, all restaurants and pubs that serve food will close, as will hairdressers, barbers and beauty salons.

Households will be allowed to have guests from up to two other households on Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day only. From December 27, this will be reduced to one other household. And from January 1, there will be no household mixing of any kind allowed, except in the case of essential family reasons, such as providing care to elderly people.

From December 27, people will not be permitted to travel outside of their own county, expect for essential reasons, such as work or to provide care.

Non-essential retail will be allowed to remain open, however, these will be requested to defer January sales events.

Schools and childcare will remain open, however third level education should remain "primarily online".

Meanwhile, the travel restrictions from Britain to Ireland, which were put in place at midnight on Sunday night for an initial 48 hours, are to remain in place until at least December 31.

Speaking about the restrictions, the Tanaiste, Leo Varadkar, said that it will probably be towards the end of February or the start of March before critical mass of the population is vaccinated "and I think we need to operate on the basis that these restrictions may well be in place until then".

He said that the situation will be reviewed on January 12, and he acknowledged that the pandemic can "change rapidly".

"Perhaps it will change for the better. Perhaps we'll be able to announce some positive decisions on the 12th of January, but I think we should all operate on the basis as a society that these restrictions will be in place for the first two months of next year," he commented.

For more information on the level 5 restrictions coming into effect, click here.