Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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98. To ask the Minister for Health if weekly Covid-19 testing will be extended to categories (details supplied) that are essential to the running of the country; if he will report on the plan for track and trace; and the persons that will be targeted in view of the fact prompt test and trace results will be crucial. [23683/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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A comprehensive, reliable and responsive testing and tracing operation is central to our public health strategy for containing and slowing the spread of COVID-19 and the HSE has worked intensively over the last number of months to put this in place.

Ireland is pursuing a robust testing strategy under the guidance of NPHET. NPHET will continue to consider and review, based on public health risk assessments, how best to target testing to hunt the virus in populations where it’s most likely and where it will do most harm. There are a number of targeted testing programmes in place currently. This includes the testing of all close contacts on two separate occasions and a number of serial testing programmes to protect high risk groups. This includes:

- Serial testing of all staff in nursing homes which has been in place since the end of June. All staff are tested on a fortnightly basis.

- Serial testing of staff in the food processing sector. This commenced in Kildare, Laois and Offaly on Friday 21st August and has expanded to food production facilities on a national scale.

- Planning is also under way for serial testing in Direct Provision Centres on a fortnightly basis and this testing will commence shortly.

Consideration is ongoing in relation to the development and implementation of appropriate surveillance strategies for other healthcare worker.

It is important to note that while testing is an important component of our response to Covid-19, it is only one element of our response and it doesn't replace the range of protective measures that are necessary to prevent the transmission of this disease.