Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the witnesses for coming in and commend all sides on the development of the Return to Work Safely Protocol. It is very useful. There were some very different perspectives around the table when that protocol was being put together, but it is very useful to have this agreed approach between workers, employers and the Government.

I will start with Dr. McGuinness. Advice given to this committee today, which I think is new advice, essentially says that any worker who spends two hours or more in an indoor area, even a big room such as this one, with someone who tests positive would have to self-isolate for two weeks. As people return to work in large indoor areas such as supermarkets or entire floors of office blocks, is it Dr. McGuinness's understanding that if somebody tests positive - even though workers may have had no contact and might have been quite a bit away - everyone who has been in that indoor area for two hours at the same time as that person would have to self-isolate for two weeks? Is that Dr. McGuinness's understanding of what needs to be applied in workplaces in order to comply with the public health advice on close contacts?