Dr. Siobhán Kennelly:

Until recently people were regularly tested at the end of the 14-day period, and that is still going on. One of the issues that we have come to understand in the course of this is that some patients who have been hospitalised have been persistently testing positive beyond the 14 days. What we understand better now than might have been the case even some weeks ago is that the positive status one gets at 14 days probably has very little of what we would call active virus in it, so the potential for infectivity is low.

The guidance has been amended to say that if one tests positive at the end of the 14-day period, one is recommended for a further isolation period of seven days. There is no further testing after that period. That came through the national expert advisory group on Covid-19 that meets on a frequent basis to assess this evidence as it comes through. On people who want to transfer and who may have been positive at the end of the 14-day period, they are still safe to transfer as long as they can be accommodated in single room accommodation for that seven-day period. We believe the risk of transmission to be very low at that point.