Ms Niamh O'Beirne:

Our current metrics for a detected case indicate we can go from one end of the process to the other - from our tracking that is the moment of referral through to the end of contact tracing - in an average of 2.8 days. Based on the article, the symptoms piece must be added. From the communications perspective, the HSE is doing much work to continue to encourage people to come forward for tests as quickly as possible to GPs. The tests are free and in many cases there is same-day testing, or it may go to the early part of the following day. A test can be done quite fast, which is important, and achieving a completion rate of 91% in less than 24 hours within that overall metric is important, as is producing the result from laboratories. Even through the peak we are delivering results in less than two days from the swabbing appointment.

It is continuous work in communications to ensure people come forward as quickly as possible and we work with GPs to support out-of-hours referrals as well, which is happening over the weekends and into the evenings. This is to ensure that any time people are sick, whether on a Monday morning or Saturday evening, it is possible for them to contact a doctor and get themselves referred for a test in any of our sites that open 12 hours per day, seven days per week, to facilitate that.