Gardai and public health officials are appealing to the public to reduce social contacts this Easter weekend, to further reduce the impact of Covid-19.

Gardai say the current public health guidelines - including the 5km travel limit - remain in place over Easter, and Gardai will continue to implement checkpoints over the weekend to support the public health regulations, as well as patrolling at public amenities.

The Deputy Chief Medical Officer has appealed to anyone planning on meeting up with others against health advice this Easter, to do so outside.

However, two households aren't allowed to meet up outside until April 12th.

It comes as a further 411 new cases and 6 deaths were reported from the virus yesterday.

This includes 19 new cases in Galway, 14 in Mayo and 5 in Roscommon.

272 people with the disease were in hospitals last night, while there's 64 in ICU.

Dr Ronan Glynn says there is a critical window over the next 8 weeks where any significant increase in close contact is likely to lead to a significant 4th wave of infection, in the range of that experienced in January.

The Deputy CMO says we can be optimistic for an enjoyable Summer ahead, but in the meantime, we have to continue to work together to prevent a further wave of infection as we accelerate vaccination across society.

Dr Ronan Glynn says that,  if people are mixing in the coming days, they should avoid doing so indoors....