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Senior NHS officials contacted their Irish counterparts this week seeking help with Covid-19 tests, it has emerged.<\/p>\nSenior NHS officials contacted their Irish counterparts this week seeking help with Covid-19 tests, it has emerged.<\/p>\n
The UK is facing problems with their Government\u2019s Covid-19 test and trace program, with people being forced to travel hundreds of miles to get a test.<\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s Health Service Executive (HSE) boss Paul Reid said he was contacted by officials from the NHS earlier this week to help plug a hole in their system.<\/p>\n
Mr Reid was defending Ireland\u2019s testing capacity following a surge in demand for Covid-19 tests in recent weeks when he made the revelation.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cWhat\u2019s happening with their (UK) testing and tracing system, which is in almost collapse and the shutting down of swabbing centers.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarlier this week, I was contacted by some very senior officials in the NHS seeking could the Irish health service do some testing in laboratories for themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we did in the quieter period in the summer was build up our capacity for 100,000 tests (per week).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were not in a position (to help). We built up our capacity purely for Ireland. It was an informal contact but it demonstrates where other systems are at.\u201d<\/p>\n
It comes as Mr Reid warned the Irish public about the rising number of coronavirus cases, particularly in Dublin.<\/p>\n
Ireland\u2019s capital could face further restrictions this weekend after public health experts raised concerns when its 14-day incidence rate jumped to more than 100.<\/p>\n
During a HSE briefing, Mr Reid said the country is at a \u201cvery concerning juncture\u201d regarding the performance of the virus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a couple of choices of which road we might determine that we take,\u201d Mr Reid warned.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bottom line is we stay on the current road as we are and the current trajectory, it will only get worse if we just keep the way we are.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at the last 17 days, there has been a 39% increase in the number of positive cases, from 150 to 210.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that positive Covid-19 cases in hospitals have jumped from 23 in August to 73 today.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would have also been talking around six ICU cases and now today we\u2019re talking about 14, and a continuously rising trend,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m particularly concerned with the rise of the cases among those in the 65 age cohort, who are more vulnerable.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom a HSE perspective, we\u2019re beginning to see a number, particularly in Dublin hospitals, where we have wards frozen because of the number of incidents.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t paint a picture just to be a prophet of doom but it is the facts and it is the data and it is the evidence of where we currently are.\u201d<\/p>\n
He appealed to the public to \u201ctake stock\u201d of what is happening and not ignore the evidence.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Ireland\u2019s testing system reached a milestone after it completed more than one million tests.<\/p>\n
It also emerged that 2,1000 tests have been carried out across 96 Irish schools, with 35 positive cases detected since the reopening of schools earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Mr Reid said that the number of children aged zero to 10 going for Covid-19 tests doubled in the second week of September.<\/p>\n