Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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431. To ask the Minister for Health if a Dublin-based Covid-19 test centre that was recently closed that processed Covid-19 tests from Clonmel, County Tipperary has been replaced by another laboratory; if this closure has resulted in testing ability being reduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42729/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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432. To ask the Minister for Health his plans for redress for patients who received erroneous false negative Covid-19 test results; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42730/20]

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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433. To ask the Minister for Health if false negative Covid-19 tests are resulting in the spread of Covid-19; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42731/20]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 432 and 433 together.

The Health Service Executive (HSE) has adopted RNA PCR as the gold standard test for diagnosing Covid-19 cases, as part of the HSE test and trace strategy, consistent with international best practice, and approved by the National Public Health Emergency Team. This platform is deployed in acute hospitals, the NVRL and HSE’s commercial partners. Given the volumes required, these operate as batch tests and hence take a number of hours depending on the platform and the volume being processed.

The HSE has worked intensively over the last number of months to put in place a comprehensive testing and tracing operation. We now have on-island capacity to test up to 126,000 people per week, which can be increased to 140,000 per week if the demand requires.

It should be noted that testing for Sars-Cov2 does not confirm that an individual with a 'not detected' result is not incubating the infection or the level of virus is below detectable levels at the time of the test. It is for this reason, for example, that testing of close contacts of a confirmed case is carried out on two separate occasions, when they are first identified and again 7 days after their last contact with the person. HSE guidelines also advise that anyone who has been tested in these circumstances should also restrict their movements for 14 days. 

Ireland is pursuing a robust testing strategy under the guidance of NPHET. On an ongoing basis, NPHET considers and reviews, 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. The testing strategy in use in Ireland remains under consideration by NPHET on an ongoing basis.