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Covid-19 Tests

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 11 November 2020

Wednesday, 11 November 2020

Questions (216)

Richard Boyd Barrett

Question:

216. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Health the details of all Covid-19 screening programmes he has planned or is planning to introduce; if same will be introduced for screening by region, industry, school or third level institution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35629/20]

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Written answers

The HSE has worked intensively over the last number of months to put in place a comprehensive testing and tracing operation. We now have on-island capacity to test up to 126,000 people per week, which can be increased to 140,000 per week by utilising available surge capacity with the HSE’s German Lab partner.

We are now able to conduct automatic testing of close contacts, serial testing in high risk environments and large-scale testing in outbreak situations. For example, at the request of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET), programmes of serial testing in Residential Care Facilities and food production facilities have been undertaken with a number of cycles of testing have been completed to date. Based on Public Health risk assessments, testing is deployed as necessary in the event of detected cases in other settings such as schools, etc.

As part of its ongoing process improvement, the HSE is currently running a nationwide recruitment campaign for swabbers and contact tracers, setting up temporary swabbing sites and making process improvements to the end-to-end test and trace system. Testing and contact tracing continues to be a key component of the Government’s and the country’s response to the pandemic.

The testing and contact tracing operational and resource model has been designed to flex up and down as needed, it has been stressed tested at higher activity levels and is capable of responding quickly to changes in demand. The HSE will continue to apply the necessary resources to ensure that response remains effective. The policy on testing and tracing remains under continuing review by the National Public Health Emergency Team and by officials in my Department and in the HSE.

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