Professor Philip Nolan:

I will make some general comments on the issue. First, test, trace and isolate is only part of the strategy in South Korea. There is also extreme social distancing and significant use of barriers. Second, South Korea is a different country with a different view on issues relating to privacy and data protection from the view that might be prevalent in Ireland. Third, I reiterate that we have the testing and tracing regimen that we need. It is a question of sustaining it. One must be very careful about asserting that test, trace and isolate is a substitute for other things. For example, one can test too soon. If I were unfortunate enough to infect the Deputy today, there would be no point in testing her today, tomorrow or the day after. It takes three or four days before one begins shedding the virus. We need to be very careful about how we use test, trace and isolate. It is very important as a supplement to all the other control measures we are using.