Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 22 July 2020
226. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Health the average turnaround time between taking a Covid-19 test and receiving results in the hospital and in the community, respectively; the average time to complete contact tracing for a confirmed case of Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17589/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraA robust, real-time process of testing, isolation and contact tracing is central to our public health strategy for containing and slowing the spread of COVID-19, as advocated by WHO, EC and ECDC.
Turnaround times have improved rapidly thanks to process improvements and automation. In around 90% of cases the turnaround time from referral to completion of contact tracing is now 3 days or less and I would like to recognise the HSE’s hard work to achieve this target which it set itself in the testing and tracing Roadmap.
As of 20 July the average turnaround time from swab taken to laboratory result for the last 7 days is 32 hours in the community and 16 hours in hospitals. The average time to complete all contact tracing calls was 0.3 days.
The HSE publishes updates on testing and contact tracing including activity levels and turnaround times on a daily basis. These can be accessed here - https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/news/newsfeatures/covid19-updates.
