Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not mean the Minister's possibility to reply but the questions I am going to ask. Yesterday, I asked a question and it is important that we get more information on this. In respect of PCR testing, we were told that there is a number, albeit a small number, of false positives. There are also false negatives, which, I have heard from various doctors, are a bigger problem. Then there is the issue, we were told yesterday, that the testing picks up incidents where people have had Covid-19 in the previous weeks or months and are no longer infectious. Could the Minister reply in writing as to what percentages he thinks are false negatives and false positives, and the numbers detected who have had Covid-19 in the past and are no longer infectious? It is important that some shape be put on that.

The HPSC confirmed that if somebody is brought to hospital, for example, because he or she breaks his or her leg on a sporting field, and tests positive for Covid-19, obviously that person has to be segregated from the rest but he or she is also counted as somebody who is hospitalised with Covid-19, correctly so. It is important that we get some indication, although I appreciate it will change from week to week and day to day, of approximately what percentage of people who are admitted with Covid-19 are hospitalised for the primary reason of treating the virus rather than some other condition. Likewise, in the context of people who die, for example, as a result of a heart attack but who have been asymptomatic of Covid-19 and it has not been an issue, they are counted as deaths resulting from Covid-19 until a coroner's report determines otherwise. Again, if we have any idea of the percentages they represent, that would be important. Could the Minister provide that information in writing so that Deputy Shortall can ask a couple of questions? Unless, that is, he or Dr. Glynn have very ready answers.