Wikipedia

COVID-19 testing in the Republic of Ireland

Main article: COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland

COVID-19 testing in the Republic of Ireland can identify whether a person is infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus which causes COVID-19. The developing and delivering of testing of Ireland was led by the staff in the National Virus Reference Laboratory. With the acquisition of the sequence of the virus, they used this to develop and validate in-house assays in advance of obtaining any commercial diagnostic kits. The NVRL played a vital role in the early detection of COVID-19 cases in Ireland,[1] and began playing a vital role in the detection of new variants of COVID-19 in 2021.

Military response

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The military response to the pandemic, which included provision of naval vessels to support onshore testing in Irish cities, was known as Operation Fortitude and initially involved such ships as LÉ Samuel Beckett, LÉ George Bernard Shaw and LÉ Niamh (Dublin), LÉ Eithne (Cork), and LÉ William Butler Yeats (Galway).[2] On 15 May, the Naval Service completed its mission and—having been involved in 6,000 tests—transferred its duties to the Army (also under Operation Fortitude); the Army had begun work at the Aviva Stadium the previous day (while ships such as the LÉ William Butler Yeats—by this time based in Dublin—returned to sea, the LÉ Eithne stayed in the city of Cork for purposes of storage and logistics, not testing).[3]

Testing centres

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Bilingual English-Irish COVID-19 testing site directional finger post

Many Gaelic games stadiums were repurposed as drive-through COVID-19 testing centres. These included Croke Park in Dublin;[4] Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork;[5] Nowlan Park in Kilkenny;[6] Gaelic Grounds in Limerick;[7] MacHale Park in Castlebar;[8] Breffni Park in Cavan;[9] Tinryland GFC's facilities south of Carlow (later shut due to lack of demand);[10][11][12] and O'Donnell Park in Letterkenny.[13]

Among the other drive-through testing centres set up: St Vincent's in Athlone;[14] the Lakeside Centre in Ballyshannon;[15] Castlebar Leisure Complex in County Mayo;[16] St Loman's Hospital in Mullingar;[17] the Clarion Road in Sligo;[18] Tallaght Stadium (the home ground of Shamrock Rovers Football Club) in Tallaght;[19][20][21] a prefabricated HSE-owned building in Waterford near Cherrymount in Ballytruckle, which had been used by St Martin's Special School;[22] the Whitemill Industrial Estate in Wexford.[23]

Former testing sites which were later replaced by the local stadiums mentioned above include Ballyhaise Health Centre in Cavan[9] and the disused St Conal's Hospital in Letterkenny.[24][25]

Centres ranging from the counties of Cork (in the south)[26][27] and Donegal (in the north)[15][28][29] were shut at various times due to lack of testing kits.

On 24 March 2021, the Government of Ireland announced that five new walk-in COVID-19 test centres would open in Dublin and Offaly on 25 March in an effort to bring down cases that were high in certain areas.[30][31][32] Nearly 1,700 people attended the five new temporary walk-in COVID-19 testing centres for people with no symptoms operated by the National Ambulance Service that opened in Dublin and Offaly on 25 March.[33][34][35]

The temporary walk-in COVID-19 testing centres for asymptomatic people proved to be effective and was a success. Throughout March, April, May and June 2021, the Health Service Executive (HSE) set up more walk-in testing centres across the country. Centres were established in Dublin, Offaly, Meath, Westmeath, Kildare, Galway, Mayo, Limerick, Waterford, Tipperary and Louth.[36][37][38] On 7 September, the HSE ceased walk-in testing nationwide to reduce queues at centres and called on people to book slots online as testing volume increased by 35%.[39]

On 27 July 2022, a recommendation from Interim Chief Medical Officer Professor Breda Smyth that all Health Service Executive COVID-19 testing facilities be stood down from the autumn and to end free COVID-19 tests was accepted by Government.[40][41]

Timeline

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After employees complained that the HSE were informing their employers of their results first and many people were first informed of their test outcome by their employer, the HSE said on 19 May that it would stop doing this.[42][43]

On 23 March, around 40,000 people were waiting to be tested and the average wait time was 4 to 5 days. Minister for Health Simon Harris said that priority testing of only healthcare workers might have to be implemented.[44]

On 25 March—to prioritise testing of healthcare workers—the threshold for requesting a COVID-19 test was narrowed. From then a person requesting a COVID-19 test had to: (i) be a healthcare worker; or (ii) present with a fever AND at least one other COVID-19 symptom.[45]

From 28 April, testing criteria for the virus was broadened again to include anyone with one of the symptoms of fever, recent onset of cough or shortness of breath.[46]

Results of a seroprevalence study, announced in July, conducted in counties Dublin and Sligo showed that about 1.7% of the population had been infected by SARS-CoV-2 with broadly similar infection rates between males and females and across different age groups.[47][48] Results announced in October indicated that 18% of healthcare staff that volunteered to participate in a study at a large Dublin hospital, Tallaght University Hospital, showed antibody evidence of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection. This revealed a much higher seroprevalence in healthcare staff than in the general population.[49]

On 22 June 2021, an online booking system for COVID-19 test referral opened for people in all counties.[50]

On 22 February 2022, it was announced that COVID-19 testing would be scaled back after the Government agreed to end almost all remaining restrictions from 28 February.[51]

Problems with COVID-19 testing

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Problems with testing kit availability and the global shortage in one of three reagents necessary to complete testing for the virus (namely that used in the second stage, extraction) became pronounced. New equipment was brought into the country from overseas. Two additional laboratories began testing for the virus in mid-April: the Enfer facility in Naas, County Kildare, and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine's laboratory in Backweston. On 10 April, the HSE and the UCD-based National Virus Reference Laboratory announced a contract for enough reagent to complete 900,000 tests, though Director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory Cillian de Gascun said it was not the reagent that was used in the third stage of testing and thus, already amply supplied. The materials, supplied by Genomics Medicine Ireland Limited (GMI), went to the Enfer laboratory. De Gascun also asserted at the same time as this announcement that he had "misspoken" the previous month if he had said tests would be increased by thousands "within days".[52] Scientists based in a laboratory in Sligo began making two types of reagent for COVID-19 testing carried out in the northwest of the country.[53]

On 2 January 2021, it was revealed that there were approximately 9,000 positive COVID-19 tests not yet logged on the HSE's IT systems, due to both limitations in the software; and lack of staff to check and input details, meaning there was an effective ceiling of approximately 1,700 to 2,000 cases that could be logged each day.[54][55] This caused a huge spike in confirmed cases, which ranged from 3,000 and up to 8,200, being reported each day.[56][57]

PCR testing centres continued to operate through Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day 2021,[58] as demand for PCR tests surged.[59] Demand for PCR tests remained "extremely high" after Christmas,[60] which resulted in no appointments available across all 41 testing centres for a number of days.[61][62] More than 20,000 cases were reported each day, but it was estimated that up to 500,000 people (10% of Irish population) could have truly contracted COVID-19.[63]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Academy Statement Regarding Covid-19" (PDF). AMLS. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  2. ^ Fegan, Catherine (28 March 2020). "At war with 'an invisible enemy' – on the front line with navy heroes". The Herald. Retrieved 28 March 2020. O'Riordan, Sean (2 April 2020). "Army on standby to assist HSE as soldiers erect tents at the Mercy Hospital in Cork". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 2 April 2020. Fegan, Catherine (28 March 2020). "Inside the Irish Navy ship that has become a coronavirus testing facility on the Liffey". Irish Independent. Retrieved 28 March 2020. Ashmore, Jehan (2 April 2020). "As Naval Service Ships Swap at Covid-19 Testing Centre, Appeal is Launched for Members to Re-Join". afloat.ie. Retrieved 2 April 2020. Conroy, MacDara (15 March 2020). "LÉ Samuel Beckett Arrives in Dublin To Shore Up HSE Capacity in Fight Against Covid-19". afloat.ie. Retrieved 15 March 2020. Hennessy, Michelle (17 March 2020). "HSE looks at using naval ships as it scales up coronavirus testing across the country". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  3. ^ Gallagher, Conor (15 May 2020). "Emergency workers honour Naval Service as it completes its Covid-19 mission: Testing duties now transferred to Army". The Irish Times. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  4. ^ O'Connor, Rachael (17 March 2020). "Croke Park GAA stadium to become drive-thru coronavirus testing centre". The Irish Post. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
  5. ^ O'Riordan, Sean (22 March 2020). "Cork's Pairc Ui Chaoimh to be state's largest Covid-19 test centre". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  6. ^ Farrell, Sinead (19 March 2020). "Kilkenny GAA's Nowlan Park will be used as drive-thru testing facility for Covid-19". The42.ie. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  7. ^ Reinhardt, Cian (20 March 2020). "LIT Gaelic Grounds to become site COVID-19 drive-thru testing site". Limerick Post. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
  8. ^ Quinn, Gavin (26 March 2020). "Mayo GAA stadium MacHale Park to be used as coronavirus testing centre". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  9. ^ a b "Covid-19 testing in Cavan to move from Ballyhaise to Kingspan Breffni tomorrow". Northern Sound. 26 March 2020. Archived from the original on 3 April 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  10. ^ McGuire, Ken (22 March 2020). "Tinryland GFC in Carlow transformed into Covid-19 testing centre". KCLR 96FM. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  11. ^ Treacy, Michael (31 March 2020). "Hundreds tested at Tinryland test centre for Covid-19". The Nationalist. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
  12. ^ Treacy, Michael (21 April 2020). "Carlow test centre closed due to 'lack of demand'". The Nationalist. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  13. ^ "St Eunan's GAA club to be used as Covid-19 test centre". Donegal News. 24 March 2020. Archived from the original on 31 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  14. ^ "Covid-19 testing centre opens in Athlone". Shannonside News. 19 March 2020. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  15. ^ a b McNulty, Chris (1 April 2020). "Covid-19 testing suspended again in Letterkenny". Donegal Daily. Retrieved 1 April 2020. Testing began at O'Donnell Park on Friday past with the process moved from St Conal's Hospital... O'Donnell Park is one of two coronavirus testing centres in Donegal, with another at the Lakeside Centre in Ballyshannon.
  16. ^ "HSE opens Covid-19 testing centre in Mayo". The Connaught Telegraph. 19 March 2020.
  17. ^ "Pop up testing centre to operate on grounds of St Loman's in Mullingar". Shannonside News. 16 March 2020. Archived from the original on 3 February 2021. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  18. ^ Deering, Paul (28 March 2020). "Covid-19 test centre has opened in Sligo". The Sligo Champion. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  19. ^ O'Reilly, Alison (12 March 2020). "Tallaght Stadium used as coronavirus testing facility". Irish Mirror. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  20. ^ O'Reilly, Alison (12 March 2020). "Tallaght Stadium used for COVID-19 testing". FM104. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  21. ^ O'Reilly, Alison (12 March 2020). "Coronavirus latest: Tallaght Stadium used as testing centre for COVID-19". Dublin Live. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  22. ^ "Drive-in Covid-19 Test Centre to open in Waterford". Waterford News & Star. 13 March 2020. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  23. ^ Byrne, Pádraig (28 March 2020). "Testing times". New Ross Standard. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  24. ^ "COVID-19 Test Centre opens in Letterkenny". Donegal News. 19 March 2020. Archived from the original on 21 March 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  25. ^ "Coronavirus test centres open in Donegal". Highland Radio. 27 March 2020. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
  26. ^ O'Neill, Kevin (29 March 2020). "Coronavirus: Páirc Uí Chaoimh test centre closed due to lack of test kits". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  27. ^ Carswell, Simon (29 March 2020). "Páirc Uí Chaoimh testing centre closes due to lack of kits". The Irish Times. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  28. ^ McNulty, Chris (29 March 2020). "Exclusive: Covid-19 testing halted at Letterkenny over lack of kits". Donegal Daily. Retrieved 29 March 2020. The Covid-19 testing process moved to O'Donnell Park from St Conal's Hospital...
  29. ^ "Covid-19: Letterkenny test centre to close at weekend over kit shortage". Donegal Daily. 3 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  30. ^ McQuinn, Cormac (24 March 2021). "Covid-19: 'Walk-in' tests available at five centres from tomorrow". The Irish Times. Retrieved 24 March 2021. Ryan, Philip (24 March 2021). "Details of five new walk-in Covid-19 test centres revealed". Irish Independent. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  31. ^ Cunningham, Paul (24 March 2021). "No appointment or fee for walk-in Covid test centres". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. Retrieved 24 March 2021. "Four walk-in Covid test centres in Dublin, and one in Tullamore, to open tomorrow". TheJournal.ie, Press Association. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  32. ^ Murphy, Greg (24 March 2021). "Walk-in Covid-19 testing centres to open on Thursday". Irish Examiner, Press Association. Retrieved 24 March 2021. "Walk-in testing to commence in areas with high Covid rate". BreakingNews.ie. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  33. ^ Power, Jack; Clarke, Vivienne (25 March 2021). "Covid-19: Five walk-in testing centres open to help identify asymptomatic cases". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  34. ^ Hogan, Laura (25 March 2021). "'I'd like to know one way or the other' - walk-in Covid test centres proving popular". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  35. ^ Halpin, Hayley; McNally, Tadgh (25 March 2021). "1,400 people attend new 'walk-in, no appointment needed' Covid-19 test centres today". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
  36. ^ Gleeson, Colin; McQuinn, Cormac (31 March 2021). "Covid-19: Seven new walk-in test centres being opened this week". The Irish Times. Retrieved 31 March 2021. Burke, Céimin (31 March 2021). "Seven new walk-in Covid test centres are being set up this week". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 31 March 2021. McGreevy, Ronan (9 April 2021). "Four new Covid-19 walk-in test centres to open this weekend". The Irish Times. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  37. ^ O'Regan, Eilish; Kelly Palenque, Brendan (9 April 2021). "Five new walk-in centres for Covid hotspots as 25,000 people tested around country". Irish Independent. Retrieved 9 April 2021. Halpin, Hayley (15 April 2021). "Four new walk-in Covid-19 test centres will open this week". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 15 April 2021. O'Connor, Niall (26 April 2021). "Two more walk-in Covid-19 test centres to open in Kildare and Offaly". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  38. ^ "Seven walk-in Covid-19 testing centres to open around country". The Irish Times. 1 May 2021. Retrieved 1 May 2021. Hussey, Sinéad (22 June 2021). "Covid-19 test centre to open in Dundalk as case numbers rise". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  39. ^ Boland, Lauren (7 September 2021). "HSE halts walk-in testing nationwide and calls on people to book slots instead". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  40. ^ "HSE Covid testing facilities could be stood down from autumn". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. 27 July 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  41. ^ Molony, Senan (27 July 2022). "Covid PCR tests won't be free for general population after Cabinet decision". Irish Independent. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  42. ^ McNulty, Fran (19 May 2020). "HSE to suspend practice of telling employers workers' test results". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  43. ^ McGrath, Dominic (19 May 2020). "HSE suspends practice of notifying some employers of Covid test results before informing employees". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  44. ^ "Priority testing for Covid-19 may be introduced". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. 23 March 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
  45. ^ Duffy, Rónán. "Coronavirus: Two more deaths and 235 new cases in Ireland confirmed". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 22 June 2020.
  46. ^ "Covid-19 death toll increases to 1,014 – Dept of Health". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. 24 April 2020. Retrieved 18 June 2020.
  47. ^ Gorey, Colm (21 August 2020). "First results of Irish Covid-19 antibody study have been published". Silicon Republic. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  48. ^ Carswell, Simon (20 July 2020). "Coronavirus: Ireland has 'no significant' herd immunity, study shows". The Irish Times. Retrieved 24 September 2020.
  49. ^ Cullen, Paul (6 October 2020). "Almost 20% of staff at Dublin hospital have antibody evidence of Covid-19 infection". The Irish Times. Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  50. ^ Dwyer, Orla (22 June 2021). "Online booking system for Covid-19 tests set up for all counties". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  51. ^ Molony, Senan; Donnelly, Katherine (22 February 2022). "Almost all Covid measures to end next week, Cabinet agrees". Irish Independent. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  52. ^ Fletcher, Laura (11 April 2020). "New reagent supplier will allow for 900,000 tests". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  53. ^ Magnier, Eileen (3 April 2020). "Sligo scientists making key elements for Covid-19 tests". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  54. ^ @gavreilly (2 January 2021). "If that's the case, the backlog of 9,000 is likely to get continually larger and larger - and the number of daily positive swabs (which historically runs roughly 10% higher than the number of positive cases) will be a truer illustration of #covid19ireland for the coming days" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  55. ^ @laineydoyle (2 January 2021). "Officially, Ireland had 1,754 cases of coronavirus today. But that's not the true picture of the state of covid infection. There's a backlog of 9000 positive swabs awaiting verification. In @ShaneHastingsIE helpful graph, that's the bit under the red line, scribbled in yellow" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  56. ^ McNally, Tadgh (2 January 2021). "Coronavirus: 4 deaths and a record high of 3,394 new cases confirmed". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  57. ^ Murray, Sean (8 January 2021). "Coronavirus: 20 deaths and 8,248 new cases as ICU numbers rise above 100". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  58. ^ Finn, Christina (24 December 2021). "PCR testing facilities to operate on Christmas Day and St Stephens' Day". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  59. ^ Hyland, Paul (24 December 2021). "Record 11,182 cases of Covid in Ireland as testing system under extreme pressure". Irish Independent. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  60. ^ McQuinn, Cormac; Carswell, Simon (27 December 2021). "Post-Christmas demand for Covid-19 tests 'extremely high'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  61. ^ McFadden, Mary (27 December 2021). "No appointments for PCR tests available across Ireland this afternoon". Limerick Leader. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  62. ^ "True Covid-19 infection rate likely much higher, warns professor". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. 30 December 2021. Retrieved 30 December 2021.
  63. ^ O'Regan, Eilish (11 January 2022). "Half a million people in Ireland may have caught Covid last week, Tony Holohan says as 19,290 new cases reported". Irish Independent. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
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