54 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the Republic of Ireland.
30 males and 24 females have been diagnosed with the virus.
41 are linked to the east of the country, 11 with the south and two with the north/west of the country.
It brings to 223 the total number of cases confirmed here.
It came after the Taoiseach warned there will be an “exponential increase” in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ireland the coming days.
Leo Varadkar expects there will be a daily 30% rise in positive tests for the coronavirus here for the next few weeks.
This could mean over 10,000 cases diagnosed by the end of this month.
“We will bounce back”. Not all businesses will recover from this however says Taoiseach.
— Shane Beatty (@ShaneBeattyNews) March 16, 2020
Speaking this evening, Mr Varadkar said the increases "cannot be stopped".
He said: "There will be an exponential increase in the number of cases in the coming days and weeks, increases of roughly 30% in the number of cases every day.
"That is inevitable, that cannot be stopped.
"We are at the very start of that curve which people are becoming familiar with so there will be a very significant increase in the number of cases every day for the next couple of weeks."
Trinity
Meanwhile, Trinity College Dublin has instructed all students to leave their rooms on campus.
They say it is because large, highly concentrated numbers of students living on campus will increase the chance of rapid transmission of COVID-19.
The college says they are aware of at least eight cases in Trinity who have tested positive for the virus.
All students living in Ireland must return home from 8pm tomorrow.
Travel
Tánaiste Simon Coveney this evening said all non-essential travel from Ireland should be avoided until at least March 29th.
That advice also now applies to travel to the UK, which previously hadn't been included in the travel advice.
He says Ryanair and Aer Lingus are continuing flights to get passengers back from Spain with those flights expected to last until the weekend.
Mr Coveney also said new measures are being put in place for people arriving into Ireland.
Breaking: Tanaiste says he is advising against all non essential travel overseas. To anywhere.
— Shane Beatty (@ShaneBeattyNews) March 16, 2020
He said: "We are also going to be imposing restrictions on everybody who comes into Ireland from now on asking them essentially to restrict their movement.
"When they land in Dublin Airport or Cork Airport or Shannon Airport or elsewhere they will be given clear instructions of what that means.
"It's not quite self-isolation but it certainly involves restriction in terms of peoples' movements."
