Dr. Lorraine Doherty:

There are obviously issues in relation to individual susceptibility to acquiring an infection and issues that the environment might precipitate. I think one of the Chairman's comments related to fatigue. A healthcare worker on a ward who is fatigued may not pay as close attention to hand hygiene or PPE. Those are things we are aware of that need to be factored in to the overall planning for staffing in those scenarios. There is a great deal that we still need to learn about this infection. In flu season, we see children as super spreaders of flu and yet children do not seem to get high levels of Covid. Why is that? We do not know. There are many studies being done on the epidemiology and the modes of transmission and we continue to learn from those.

As we learn more about this infection it enables us to identify further control measures. One of the preventative measures that we are hoping to introduce globally in 2021 might be a Covid vaccine. Should a safe and effective vaccine become available in appropriate quantities we can start immunising people for further protection but in the meantime we have to have a very strong focus on our routine infection prevention measures.