Thousands of people waiting for coronavirus testing, who don't have an appointment yet, will now not be tested and will have to contact their GP again.
Patients will need to meet revised criteria to qualify in future and will have to display two major symptoms - a fever and either a cough or shortness of breath.
They also need to be either contacts of a confirmed case, healthcare staff or vulnerable group.
Dr. Tony Holohan is the State's Chief Medical Officer.
He says they have to prioritise cases;
"With the significant increase in testing that we have had, still only 6 per cent of those are confirmed cases, so 94 per cent of them are negative."
He went on to say this has been a challenge to continue to reach all the people looking for a test.
Last night 204 new cases were confirmed, along with one death, bringing the total number of fatalities to seven.
As of Sunday, Dublin accounted for more than half of all cases.
While the total number of people infected in the republic to date, stands at 1,329.
