HSE Chief Paul Reid says the complexity and number of calls are putting added pressure on the HSE | Read more:
HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid has apologised to the 2,000 people who were told to alert their own close contacts after they tested positive for Covid-19.
He said: "The huge surge that emerged over the last ten days did catch us this weekend," and "our recruitment hasn't caught up with the rise in cases". He said the HSE is continuously being transparent and his team were out yesterday explaining why these decisions were made. Also speaking to RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he said it is a very difficult job for the HSE but that NPHET has been able to model the spread of the virus weeks ahead "so nobody should be surprised by the higher case numbers".Earlier, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said it was incorrect to say that contact tracing had fallen down, adding that in the last six weeks contact tracing teams have made 400% more calls than previously.
He defended the HSE testing and tracing system, saying the organisation has been "working night and day" and despite mistakes it has established one of the highest testing regimes in the world, backed up with a tracing app. Dr Agoritsa Baka also said the ECDC does not see the spread of the virus being driven by school settings, but that bigger clusters have broken out in workplace settings where there are indoor meetings and events such as in factories, mines and businesses.
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