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A plan to scale up coronavirus testing and tracing every week is being launched today, HSE chief executive Paul Reid has said.<\/p>\nA plan to scale up coronavirus testing and tracing every week is being launched today, HSE chief executive Paul Reid has said.<\/p>\n
The Department of Health has set a target of 100,000 coronavirus tests per week, which the HSE hopes to reach by the middle of next month.<\/p>\n
Mr Reid said ramping up testing and tracing is a \u201ckey part\u201d of the strategy to enable restrictions to be lifted once it is decided and recommended by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) and approved by Government.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThis will involve a major plan to scale up our capacity and make some changes in processes, put some new community testing centers in place and ultimately deliver a higher volume.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Reid also said that the primary focus has been testing staff and residents in all long-term residential care places.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThis has been a very important program and I\u2019d like to thank the National Ambulance Service in conjunction with our community teams who have over the past week tested over 20,000 residents in those locations.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re also launching many of our clinical assessment hubs all across the country and 20 clinical assessment hubs are now in place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are a key part in a fight against Covid because it protects people from ending up in our hospital system.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am also conscious we\u2019re continuously having challenges on PPE (personal protective equipment) but we are making good progress, with extra deliveries coming in from China.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecently, you will have seen an announcement from NPHET in terms of the use of masks for all healthcare workers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to thank all of our staff for your responsiveness throughout the last few weeks as we\u2019ve responded and prepared for Covid-19.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019d also like to acknowledge it\u2019s been a very sad time as we\u2019ve lost some healthcare workers through Covid-19 during this process.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d like to send out my sincere condolences to their family and friends and it\u2019s a very tough time for everyone indeed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been a very tough time for staff and we\u2019re very conscious that our staff be very conscious of their mental health during issues that can cause a lot of concern for our staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Sunday, the Department of Health said there had been an additional 26 deaths, bringing the cumulative toll to 1,087.<\/p>\n
Another 701 positive cases were confirmed, bringing the overall total to 19,262.<\/p>\n