Ireland will shut restaurants, pubs serving food and some shops from Christmas Eve, less than a month after they emerged from the previous lockdown after health officials warned the country had quickly spiralled into a third wave of Covid-19 infections.

Prime Minister Micheal Martin said there was no evidence that a new, virulent variant of the virus that has isolated neighbouring Britain had reached Ireland, but the safest way forward was to assume it had.

Ireland has one of the lowest incidence rates of Covid-19 in Europe after moving early in October to temporarily shut shops, bars and restaurants, Reuters reported.

Unlike much of Europe, they have largely been open again during the busy December trading period.