Ireland will crank up coronavirus restrictions, prime minister Micheal Martin said Wednesday, announcing a raft of new curbs along the border with the British province of Northern Ireland.
From midnight (2300 GMT) on Thursday fresh measures will be enacted in the border counties of Donegal, Monaghan and Cavan -- home to around 300,000.
Non-essential retail outlets are to close alongside gyms, pools and leisure centres.
Meanwhile everyone apart from those deemed essential workers "must work from home," Martin said.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin he also announced a ban on home or garden visits between separate households everywhere in Ireland -- which has suffered 1,835 coronavirus deaths to date.
"We are living in very difficult times, and things may indeed get worse before they get better," he warned.
Earlier on Wednesday Northern Ireland's devolved government announced plans to shut pubs and restaurants for four weeks, tighten restrictions on social gatherings and extend the mid-term school break to counter soaring case numbers there.
Martin said "the virus pays no heed to borders" and called for "continued north-south cooperation and coordination" against the pandemic.
Although daily death figures in Ireland regularly remain in the single digits after peaking at 77 in April, the nation is battling a resurgence of infections.
On Wednesday there were 1,095 new cases registered in the department of health's daily toll -- the highest such number reported in a single day.
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