The Cabinet will meet today to consider if Stage 4 of the roadmap for reopening will go ahead as planned next Monday.
It comes as the number of new cases of Covid-19 in the past week remains high. 46 new infections were recorded yesterday, 85 per cent of which were in people under 45.
Under the next step, all pubs are due to be allowed to get back trading. It's believed restricting the number of people allowed in a bar is one of the measures being considered.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said his number one focus now is getting school pupils back behind their desks by September.
But if the advice today from The National Public Health Emergency Team is that a full return to business of licensed premises risks a spike in cases, that reopening could be torpedoed.
Opposition politicians argue pubs are being "singled out" and that restaurants were allowed to reopen which didn't result in a surge in cases.
Meanwhile the cabinet is also expected to discuss the introduction of random testing for Covid-19 at airports and the possible removal of some countries from the green list as cases of the virus continue to creep upwards in some countries across Europe.
