Dr. Ronan Glynn:

I regard the centres as a success, principally because they have raised awareness among communities as to the extent of the disease within their areas and the need for people to come forward and get tested. Our public health colleagues in the HSE are very clear that the centres have had a positive impact. As we continue with them, which we certainly need to do, the challenge is to ensure that local politicians, local stakeholders and local organisations get behind the centres each time they are set up in the area. We need to ensure they raise awareness and ensure that people know the centres are there and what their purpose is so that they will come forward and get tested.

The Senator asked about the average positivity rate. Almost 30,000 people have gone through the various centres since the end of March and almost 800 positive cases have been identified to date. The overall positivity rate is approximately 2.8%. The rate varies from site to site but, generally speaking, the positivity rates have been between 1.5% and 5.5%.