Tony Holohan made the comments on Monday evening.
Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan has said that it is still too soon to determine whether the easing of restrictions has had any effect yet.
Phase 1 began on 18 May, which allowed outdoor meetings between people from different households (in groups of four or less), and saw a phased return of outdoor workers, among other small changes to the previous safety measures.
Speaking at Monday evening’s briefing, Holohan said: “The number of new cases and reported deaths over the past week indicated that we have suppressed Covid-19 as a country. It has taken strict measures to achieve this.
“It will take another week to see any affect on disease incidence that might arise from the easing of measures in Phase 1.”
Holohan’s comments came on the same night that it was announced that Ireland saw no Covid-19 related deaths reported in the past 24 hours.
This was the first time since 21 March that no deaths had been reported.
As of Monday evening, Ireland’s death toll stands at 1,606.
Holohan also spoke about social distancing at Monday’s briefing, saying that people should continue keeping a two metre distance from people, and that social distancing is a reasonable compromise given the current circumstances.
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