Mr. Nick Parkinson:

I thank the Senator. I might hand over to my colleague Professor Cormican to provide further information on this. The Senator stated she wants to gain a better understanding. Safety and the reporting of incidents are matters we take very seriously. We have strongly promoted this within the HSE because we find information is power and that the more information we have, the better we can manage the risk. We treat Covid not necessarily as an illness but as an occupational hazard. We manage it in the context of health and safety legislation as well as infection control legislation.

Regarding the reporting procedure where there is a case, we first get the full details of the case. The manager would get the details to fully understand what has happened and report them on the national incident management system, which is our internal reporting system. As part of the data-collection and investigation process, the manager would refer to an algorithm we have developed to make a decision as to whether we feel the infection is occupational. Once the manager has made that decision using the algorithm, we make a report to the HSA, if appropriate.

As I said in our opening statement, we do collect the data and we are certainly not resisting in any way the collection of data on the Covid incidence. We feel there is good machinery already in place for the reporting of the Covid incidence. I hope that answers the first part of the Senator's query. If Professor Cormican is still on the line, could I hand over to him to discuss the question on gene sequencing?