"It seems to have accelerated much quicker than we thought it would, frankly."
HSE CEO Paul Reid has said Covid-19 cases are rising "much quicker" than originally anticipated as around 1,000 cases are to be reported this Thursday.
Speaking about the rising case numbers Ireland is currently seeing, Reid said the country needed to treat the increase with the "significant caution that it merits".
"We know that cases most likely and will continue to rise from every day on now. Yesterday... we saw one of the highest numbers of cases in one day since February, at almost 800 cases," Reid said.
"We know and expect that today's cases will be approximately 1,000... Any kind of look forward ahead will clearly demonstrate this is on a very significant rise of case numbers."
Asked if the sudden rise in cases had taken him by surprise, the CEO confirmed it had.
He said: "Yeah, NPHET equally outlined this at their own press briefing yesterday. Philip Nolan outlined the acceleration.
"Certainly the early indications were that we would reach about 1,000 cases per day towards the end of July.
"So it seems to have accelerated much quicker than we thought it would, frankly."
Earlier on
Thursday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar warned that unvaccinated people are more at risk of catching Covid-19 over the next few weeks than at any point in this pandemic.
He highlighted that Ireland is seeing "a major surge" in cases, almost entirely among younger people and those not fully vaccinated.
"I ask them over the summer - at least until you're fully vaccinated - please avoid socialising indoors, please keep your social contacts to a minimum, please avoid non-essential foreign travel and please wear a mask even outdoors in crowded scenarios," Varadkar added.
