Dublin, Apr 17 (IANS): Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has said the relaxing of the COVID-19 restrictions in the country will be a gradual process and could take months.

He said this on Thursday while addressing the lower house of the country's parliament on the pandemic that has paralysed much of the country's life since late March, Xinhua reported.

He told the deputies that he does not know yet if his government will be able to relax restrictions on May 5, the date when the current restrictions are supposed to end.

But he said: "I do know that if we can, it will be gradual and will happen over a number of months."

On March 27, the Irish government issued a stay-at-home order, under which all the people across the country are required to not leave their homes unless in some special circumstances.

Ireland reported its first confirmed COVID-19 case in late February. To date, a total of 13,271 confirmed cases have been reported in the country with 486 deaths, according to the Irish Department of Health.