Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has said he thinks the country will get over this “summer wave” of Covid-19 infections without having to introduce restrictions.
It comes as 606 people were being treated in hospital for Covid-19 on Monday - a rapid rise in cases since last week.
The HSE said over half of those in hospital with the disease had not received their booster vaccine.
Read More: Immunovirology expert says Covid masks 'not sufficient to effectively cut down on transmission'
Speaking on Monday, Mr Varadkar said the current advice from the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, was that mask wearing remains advisable, but not mandatory.
He said: “As always the case, we’ll be guided by public health advice on this.
“The current advice from the CMO is that we don’t need to extend the mask mandate, that we continue to encourage it in healthcare settings and obviously on public transport as well but not that it would be legally mandatory.
“We are seeing a summer wave of infections as you know, over 600 people in hospital today were positive.
“About half of them would be in hospital anyway, but nonetheless it is an increase and I think we will get over this summer wave without the need to impose any new restrictions, but obviously we’ll be guided by public health advice in that regard.”
It comes as the CEO of the HSE Paul Reid has raised the prospect of reintroducing mandatory mask-wearing on public transport and other enclosed spaces due to the spike in cases.
The HSE’s chief clinical officer, Dr Colm Henry said he is "very concerned" about the surge in Covid-19 cases.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, Dr Colm Henry said the rise is largely driven by a sub-type of the Omicron variant.
Dr Henry said that although it is much more transmissible, it does not seem to be more virulent or aggressive.
He said: "While hospitalisations are going up, we are seeing ICU numbers steady which is of some assurance.
"The harsh reality is that if you look at hospitalisations, 606 this morning, unfortunately over half have not received their booster and over a third haven't even got vaccinated in the first place.
“It's not too late for those people to get vaccinated.”
