Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy raised a number of issues. The current epidemiological status is relatively good from a European perspective. We now have the lowest 14-day incidence rate in the 27 European Union member states at 89 per 100,000 people. That is a result of the people of Ireland working with level 5 over six weeks. The people deserve considerable credit for adhering to the guidelines. It is interesting that in the most recent survey of the Central Statistics Office, CSO, more than 73% of people felt that the level 5 restrictions were appropriate. We hear many complaints about the restrictions but the CSO study, which is released this week, suggests that the vast majority of people want to work with the guidelines and restrictions and want to be protected and stay safe. That must be said.

Obviously, we must watch it, as the virus spreads very quickly. The CSO data is also important in that it measures the high number of people who feel that they are experiencing a low quality of life at present as a result of Covid-19. The number has gone up to 30% since April, which is a worry. The number who are downhearted on a continuous basis has doubled since April from 5% to 10% or 11%. That speaks to the need to give people a lift and some quality of life. One always has this balance between severe restrictions and quality of life for people. That is why, for example, we made some modifications to level 3 by opening museums and galleries. We felt the threat is not great in those locations, so people can visit them, the public libraries and so forth. It was likewise with the restaurants, to allow people to get out for a night. That is important for mental well-being.

On the testing, we have significantly expanded the permanent capacity in the testing and tracing system. We have on-island capacity to test up to 126,000 people per week, but that can be increased to 140,000 per week by utilising available surge capacity with the HSE's German laboratory partner.

We offer automatic testing of close contacts. Serial testing will continue in high-risk environments and there will be large-scale testing in outbreak situations. Serial testing has been important in nursing homes. It has been an important extra check and control over the spread of the virus in those situations. Some 92% of GP referrals are provided with a Covid-19 test appointment within 24 hours, while the median time from swab to laboratory result is 25 hours. The average time to complete the contact tracing calls is 1.1 day from when the detected result is communicated. We have carried out approximately 2 million tests in laboratories across Ireland to date. We consistently rank among the countries performing most tests.

In terms of the recruitment issues, more than 700 people currently work in contact tracing centres, of whom 530 are newly recruited. The HSE is building a contact tracing workforce of approximately 800, while more than 1,000 people work in swabbing.

See this speech in context