Ireland to impose nationwide Covid-19 curbs on Monday

Patrons enjoy a drink at Bittles bar in Belfast on October 16, 2020, as Northern Ireland imposes tighter coronavirus restrictions on the hospitality sector amid an uptick in Covid-19 cases. Credit: AFP.

Ireland will bring in "decisive" nationwide Covid-19 restrictions on Monday but will stop short of reintroducing the kind of lockdown imposed earlier this year, Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said on Friday.

"The government will act tomorrow, the action will be decisive and it will be nationwide action," Harris, who was the health minister during one of Europe's strictest lockdowns from the end of March to mid-May, told national broadcaster RTE.

"Tomorrow we will have to bring in more restrictions. Level 3 has not worked in terms of getting the virus to where it needs to get to ... I don't want to be pedantic about the phrase lockdown but I don't think that's exactly where we're going but there will certainly be more restrictions."