Seán Sherlock
Question:1504. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Health if he plans to implement mass Covid-19 antigen testing across the early years sector, focusing on areas with the highest infection rates. [20201/21]
View answerWednesday, 21 April 2021
Questions (1504, 2074, 2206)
Neale Richmond
Question:2074. Deputy Neale Richmond asked the Minister for Health if he has considered testing the use of rapid antigen testing to allow the return of large spectator events; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19744/21]
View answer
James O'Connor
Question:2206. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Health the status of rapid antigen testing for international travel and mass gatherings (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20130/21]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1504, 2074 and 2206 together.
I asked the Government’s chief scientific adviser, Professor Mark Ferguson, to chair a group to examine the use of rapid tests in the community and the “Report of the COVID-19 Rapid Testing Group” was published on 1 April 2021. The majority report highlights that rapid testing is a fast-developing field. It recommends that various sectors and industries, including business, sports and education, should work in partnership with government departments to pilot and initiate widespread feasibility studies with a view to evaluating the potential role of rapid testing as part of Ireland’s collective and sustained response to COVID-19.
As Deputies will appreciate, as Minister for Health, I am not responsible for the various sectors described. These are a matter for the Ministers and Departments with responsibility for the sectors concerned. Consideration of the recommendations in the Report is underway across a number of Government Departments and agencies in relation to the potential role of rapid tests across different sectors.
In the health sector, the HSE has deployed rapid antigen tests for use for specific indications in the acute hospital setting, and as part of the response to outbreaks in the community setting, supported by appropriate clinical governance and operational arrangements. This includes updating the case definition for SARS-CoV-2 to accept notification of positive results from rapid antigen tests undertaken in the public health system and reporting of such cases to the COVID Care tracker and to the Computerised Infectious Disease Reporting (CIDR) information system developed to manage the surveillance and control of infectious diseases in Ireland.
Considerable work has been undertaken to date to evaluate the potential use of rapid antigen tests in an Irish context and this will continue on an ongoing basis. For example, the HSE’s Antigen Validation Project Team has conducted a validation study of antigen testing in meat processing facilities. A further pilot of rapid antigen testing in this sector is being overseen by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and findings in relation to its evaluation are awaited. Further modelling work is being conducted to examine the potential for frequent antigen testing in this specific high-risk work setting to potentially compensate for test sensitivity limitations. Setting-specific rapid testing validation work across other settings continues to be undertaken by the HSE. In addition, the HSE, along with relevant sector stakeholders, is currently examining the potential for piloting of rapid antigen tests in education and childcare settings. I am aware that a further rapid testing partnership initiative by a number of universities, supported by partners including the HSE and HIQA, is also being scoped for piloting in the near future. Antigen testing, or other forms of rapid testing, will not, however, replace the requirement for large scale PCR testing in this country which remains the gold standard diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2.