NORTHERN Ireland's chief scientific adviser has warned that "local measures" may have to be considered following a rise in coronavirus cases.
Professor Ian Young said the 288 cases of Covid-19 recorded in the past seven days is of "considerable concern".
The highest number of new cases was in the Mid and East Antrim and Belfast council areas.
Mid and East Antrim has seen 73 new cases in the past seven days, while Belfast had 71.
Antrim and Newtownabbey had 41, Newry, Mourne and Down had 33 infections and there were 32 in the Causeway Coast and Glens district.
Fermanagh and Omagh, meanwhile, had just two new cases in the last week while Ards and North Down, Derry and Strabane and Mid Ulster also saw single-figure rises.
"We're getting close to the point, certainly in those areas with the high numbers of cases, that we may have to consider whether any additional local measures are required," Prof Young told the BBC.
"I don't think we're at the point where we'd be considering measures across the whole of Northern Ireland, because there are still many parts where, as a result of public behaviours, the level of virus remains at a low level."
There were no more Covid-linked deaths reported yesterday and just two patients are in hospital with the virus, with no one in ICU.
However, Prof Young said the recent rise in cases "represents a tenfold increase, or more, of the virus compared to what we were seeing around the end of June".
The Department of Health said yesterday that a further 39 people had tested positive for coronavirus in Northern Ireland in the past 24 hours.
That brought its total number of confirmed cases during the pandemic to 6,430.
The Republic's Department of Health reported 56 additional cases yesterday, bringing the total number of cases to 27,313.
Four out of five of the cases involve people under the age of 45.
However, there has been concern after 200 new cases were reported on Saturday, the highest number in a single day since the start of May.
Around 1,100 new cases have been recorded in the last 14 days.
The taoiseach said the number of new cases was "deeply concerning".
Micheál Martin said that the government would continue to monitor the situation closely.
Health minister Stephen Donnelly also revealed that gardaí visited more than 3,000 premises over the weekend and 26 restaurants were found to be not compliant with public health guidelines.
