Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will check the position on the national outbreak control team. I am not sure whether it has been established yet, but it is fair to say the settings in question are healthcare settings. Many people in healthcare settings will have Covid and many will have other illnesses. They are very susceptible to Covid, and that is why infection control is so important. Hospitals, nurse managers and doctors are very well trained in infection control and have the support of microbiology teams, for example, to advise them.

When it comes to mass testing, I am not sure how practical it would be to do mass or serial testing in hospitals given the number of them and the number of tests that would have to be done. However, it has been done in Letterkenny University Hospital, where there were major outbreaks. What tends to be done is that testing is done in the outbreak areas within the hospital because it might be in a particular part, ward or department of the hospital. That is done on the advice of the local public health department.

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