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NORTHERN IRELAND’S PUBLIC Health Agency (PHA) has said it has contacted those who “came into closest contact” with the individual who tested positive for Covid-19.
Yesterday evening it was confirmed that there had been a diagnosis of Covid-19 in the case of a person who had travelled from northern Italy to Dublin and then onto Northern Ireland.
The individual is known to be a woman and she is currently receiving specialist health care.
In an update this evening, the Public Health Agency’s Dr Jillian Johnston said contact tracing has now been completed.
She added: “All stages of the individual’s journey were identified and those who came into closest contact have been traced and contacted with public health advice and guidance.”
I would emphasise that members of the public who have travelled between Dublin and Belfast using public transport need not be concerned.
Earlier today, the Department of Health in Dublin said that all persons identified as a close contact of the patient have been contacted and been given advice from healthcare professionals.
At a press briefing this morning, Dr John Cuddihy, HSE director of public health said that this included people at “all stages of the journey”.
“In this particular case, all stages of the journey have been identified and the contract tracing has been completed so anybody who needs to be contacted has been contacted and given appropriate advice. So if someone hasn’t been contacted there’s no reason for them to be concerned,” he said.
A spokesperson for Northern Ireland’s Public Health Agency told TheJournal.ie this evening that it is concerned with matters north of the border but continues to work closely with authorities in the south.
It has not been confirmed if the woman in question travelled from Dublin to Belfast via train but Irish Rail told TheJournal.ie today that both Iarnród Éireann and Northern Ireland’s Translink ”undertook a sanitising clean of the Enterprise fleet as a precautionary measure overnight”.
The woman had travelled to Dublin from Italy on an Aer Lingus flight and the company said it in a statement that it is “co-operating fully with the HSE in relation to the Covid19 developments”.
Patient
Northern Ireland’s Minister for Health Robin Swann said this afternoon that ”in line with protocol”, yesterday’s positive test is being sent to a lab in England for verification.
In a statement this afternoon, Swann said that the patient “is receiving appropriate specialist health care in keeping with expert advice and agreed procedures”.
“Robust infection control measures are in place to prevent possible further spread of the virus,” he added.
As of today, 83 396 cases of Covid-19 have been reported. China is by far the country worst affected. Globally 2,858 deaths have been reported, according to the latest figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. 2,789 of those have been in China.
According to the most extensive study done so far, the novel coronavirus was benign in 80.9% of cases, “serious” in 13.8% and “critical” in 4.7%. The remaining 0.6% was not specified.
Part of the reason Covid-19 has been declared a public health emergency is due to the speed at which it has spread compared to other coronaviruses (like Sars and Mers) and the fact that there’s a lot about the disease we still don’t know – including how exactly it’s being transmitted.
“We would like to reiterate the effective measures we all can take to help stop the spread of coronavirus. Like seasonal flu, the same public health advice applies for COVID-19 – if you cough or sneeze, use a tissue to cover your mouth and nose, throw it away carefully after use, and wash your hands,” Johnston said in Public Health Agency’s update this evening.
Contact with a case
If you think you have been in contact with a confirmed case of coronavirus this is the advice from the HSE:
Phone HSELive on 1850 24 1850 if you think you have been:
I know a lad that got a girl pregnant on results night. I’d say that’s a pretty profound impact.
I pretty much got the worst marks I could possibly have had in school.
It influenced my career prospects only by giving me the kick up the @rse i needed. I completed a diploma in IT because degree courses wouldn’t have me. From my final year project I started a business that now employs 40 people. I completed my degree as a mature student, finishing with first class honours and I’m now working through the PhD application process.
It would have been an easier road if I had done well in school, but there is always a path towards achieving your goals.
Any students reading won’t get a more important message than yours.
Results are important in that they open doors for you, but there are always other doors open, so make sure to do your best but don’t despair if results don’t go your way.
Best of luck to everyone sitting their exams this year!
Do you think you would have had a little more focus in school if they had IT related subjects?
i.e. would you have been more engaged with the stuff at the time if you had been learning Java instead of Irish poems, or computer hardware instead of engineering? It just seems to be a big hole in the present curriculum.
I’m amazed that no one has mentioned introducing Computer Programming, Networks or Hardware as an option into the curriculum. The IT industry is booming in Ireland and if students had the basics learned before collage it would be of a huge advantage
Too right Ciaran
I completely took the piss and did really, really terrible on my leaving cert. In the long run though, it hasn’t affected my life and I’m happy where I am today. But I would never recommend anyone being as lazy about it as I was.
Well done you great accomplishment
“Do you think you would have had a little more focus in school if they had IT related subjects?”
I can honestly say, no. I went to school in Australia and actually did have computer programming as a subject. Even for that subject, I got the second lowest grade possible. This was in the early 1990s. What I needed was a bit of maturity and it wouldn’t have hurt if I’d had parents who were more engaged in what I was (and wasn’t) doing.
i did the diploma immediately after finishing school and was like a different person. I worked my arse off. I did the degree more recently, in Ireland.
Briliant….similar story here….left after Inter Cert…so that tells you how long ago…worked in the wonderful world of advertising and now live in the US where I pinch myself daily as can’t believe how well everything turned out. Not bad for an atheist from Dublin with an OK Inter Cert…
Half of my friends had no interest in doing the leaving cert. One of them didn’t.
They are all smart and capable, they also have done well in life.
People that tend to excel in the Leaving Cert are not always the ones who excel in the years to follow.
Ben Coughlan.
School is such an artificial environment and people are so young and haven’t a clue what they want most of the time that I wonder can it be changed that much.
I totally agree John.
Still, i don’t think I was overly interested in most of the subjects in there, I never had a flare for languages outside of English, and while History was interesting, I guess out of whatever else was there, I either decided I’d probably need it later on in life (Maths, Business, the three Sciences, Engineering), might need it for a pub quiz (Geography, Music) or I wouldn’t need it at all (Irish/Religion).
I just think that when you look at any other professional career or trade, there seems to be a core subject, or group of subjects taught to you in school to prepare you for it, for Computer Science you could argue that Maths is useful, but otherwise you’ll never really know if you’re going to like it or not until college.
There’s a growing global shortage of IT workers worldwide, cross training has filled some of that gap in Ireland, but I feel like they should probably be doing a bit more, then again, if someone can write code, why would they take a teachers salary when they can make three times that in a software house… I dunno. it just seems like a gap in our education system.
“if someone can write code, why would they take a teachers salary when they can make three times that in a software house”
In Ireland experienced teachers earn similar salaries to experienced IT folk. 60K is comparable.
When I studied programming at highschool in Australia, one of my teachers was formerly a science teacher and the other was formerly a home economics teacher. They retrained to be able to teach the subject. The programme was only about 2 years old when I started. It can be done.
Also, people over-estimate the degree to which math is important. Sure in computer science it is, but almost noone in the field works in areas that would qualify as “computer science”. Most people work in commercial software development AKA information systems. Math is far less prevalent in that area. Lots of lots of experienced programmers I know have awful numeracy skills.
I left school at 13 and ran away to London. Managed to get accepted to university years later through an access programme and now I’m a clinical psychologist – my dream job. So for me, no :)
Wow Damien. Well done. You had lived a life before most left school realistically.. You’ve had the best of both worlds, real and educationally:-).
Fair play to you Damien.
Well done Damien
Left school after transition year, worked in IT for seven years. Entered UCC as a mature student and got my arts degree, and currently in postgraduate study on a school scholarship. The leaving cert has not come up once since the day I left school over a decade ago.
It only matters if your 100% deadset on a course and profession like being a doctor so you need the points. There are tons of post leaving courses you can do that will lead to exemptions for other courses and you can easily work your way into the profession you like.
Good luck to everyone sitting exams.
Good luck today to everyone sitting exams
Yeah good luck, but what are you doing on the journal?!!!
Doing well can be a really good way to get into the education and career stream you want, but it’s by no means the only way, and not doing as well as you would have liked isn’t the end of the world.
I had to do mine twice so I’d say yes :p
My life would have ended up like this whether I did very well or very badly in the L Cert
I’m guessing you did very bad.
Funny enough that …. I did pretty well as it happens
No you didn’t.
Some day all grammar nazis will just give up and fade away. Relax jaisus.
Made no difference to me. I changed results on my cv depending on what the job entailed, either better maths or better English. Probably would have been better off doing a creative writing course! Anyhow best wishes, JK Rowling.
No one gives a hoot what you received on your leaving cert about one month after it is done. I say this as someone who has interviewed hundreds of people in my time. Do not clutter your CV with it.
If you do not get the course that you want, you can get it in time.
I’ll be sitting it next year. The pressure even already is starting to mount. I’ve a spinal condition that means I’m a little bit restricted mobility wise, but I get awful tired fairly quickly. I’m a hard worker but I have my limits physically, the leaving cert course isn’t friendly to these situations! So I’m already fairly scared of the whole ordeal already, but it’s really refreshing to hear some of the stories here. If there’s a will, there’s a way :)
Its very pressurising to be dumped with 3 years work in to 2 years… Think they should have never introduced transition year & instead give students 3 years to study & not be so stressed… Do the best you can Catherine but remember there are other options if you don’t get the choice of course you want first time round… my friend repeated 3 times as she wanted to veterinary studies but was always a few points short but in the end she left it for a few years & entered as a mature student & passed the entrance exam & she’s now a qualified vet and has her own practice… Best of luck in advance for next year!!
You should try zen meditation.
Very effective for students going in to exams. Stress causes people to forget.
I never even saw the certificate. Does anyone know if I can still collect it somewhere?
Yes you can. Just contact the Dept of Education on the Internet and that will guide you.
To make a long story short; the examiner for one of me exams added up my marks wrong and their mistake determined whether or not I got my course or repeated the leaving cert. Thankfully, the mistake was corrected just in time, but that was a very hard and stressful summer for me.
Morning of my first exam, I was pushed on my ass while trying to go in (by the acting principal) due to lack of uniform.
Sprinted home, got uniform on, got in 2 mins before cut off.
Went to collect my results and was delighted to have aced the exam. Took the opportunity to rub it in the face of the acting principal.
What a pr!ck of a vice principle. Like uniforms matter during exams.
It would be ridiculous to think that life evolves around the result of a leaving cert. People who think that it does need to get out in the world and see how other people get on.
Yes in that I had a choice of jobs back in 1964 . I worked for Aer Lingus which at the time was a good job. I could have gone to University but did not have the money.
So yes, the leaving cert did make a difference as it gave me choices.
Do I remember my prose and poetry, no
Can I do algebra , no
Can I do triganomitary,no
Can I quote Shakespeare, no
Do I know what the mo coinnealac is, no( can’t even spell it!)
Do I know what the gna chaiteach is, no
Still I was always asked if I had my leaving cert when I went for different jobs. Unless you are an enrepreneur having a leaving cert is still beneficial.
“An Modh Coinniolach”, and “Tuiseal Ginideach” are two mythical beasts who strike terror into all junior and leaving cert students. I can imagine mums shouting “do your study or An Modh Coinniolach will get you in your sleep!”
if they do study, the attack from An Modh Coinniolach may not happen ;)
Got great marks in Irish.
Total waste of time – never used it since. Useless here – and absolutely useless in business and abroad.
Only learned it because I was forced to…
You sound like a whiny little bi555.
That will have more of an impact on your life than anything you did or did not learn.
Yes in so far as I was able to put it on my CV that I passed. A guy in my class who never even sat the exam though put on his CV that he’d passed as well (and got a job out of it) so if I’d had the neck I could’ve done something similar, a potential employer isn’t likely to check with the Dept of Education that you actually did the exam. It’s probably more necessary now as it’s expected that most students will do 3rd level of some description. Never fails to give me the heebie-jeebies when I even think of it, the Leaving and the driving test are 2 nerve-wracking events I’ll never forget.
Yes, but only as something which got me a job, which led to another which led to another which led to realising that I needed to go to college which led me to 15 days work over 2 years which lead me to a 6 month course 2 years ago which was the thing that really had an impact in that it got me a job and allowed me contact to hear about another job which is where I am right now and I’m very happy without any need for punctuation. ;)
I didn’t do particularly well in it but I’m bloody loaded now despite it.
Yeah but are you happy Joe?
I really hope all the students that are stressed about the LC are reading these comments, it’s made such a big deal of in the lead up to the exams and results it just adds more pressure to them. Basically there are many ways into courses etc. through PLC courses and mostly when it comes to jobs it’s who you know that gets you in the door in my experience. I’ve told my children just do your best, after there being several suicides of young people in our area, we should all be aware that our teens’ mental wellbeing is the only important thing and support them.
Nope went to Art school so entry was baed on portfolio and interview :)
Got in my way to be blunt, I run my own business now. The only thing that I can take from school was sport and the book animal farm, helped me think for myself.
I did okay in my leaving cert. Got into UCD and studied politics, history and logic, graduating in 1977. After winning a scholarship from Boston College while attending UCD, I completed an MBA in corporate finance there in 1982. UCD gave me an honorary doctorate in 2006.
I am now among the World’s Top 200 Billionaires and also Ireland’s richest native-born citizen.
It didn’t affect me – I was not intelligent enough to do the Leaving Cert.
Never did the leaving cert. It’s all BS anyway
6% Don’t know?….. 6% never sat a leaving cert then!
My entire life in my 20′s have not affected how things in my life turned out at this stage as I head to 40.
A very stressful time in your late teens does not change your life.
I know a person with a successful IT business who is in her mid thirties who spent her 20s as a chronic alcoholic.
Do people honestly think her point mattered.
If you get up every morning and give it your best and don’t quit or take it personal then you’ll go far.
What use is an education when governments are forced to take in monetary procedures like austerity that creates immigration from foreign governments and destroys domestic work.
People do not want manufacturing jobs here just jobs for the under 25s to hit keys on a keyboard after a college education, that will not do much for here?
I did very well in my leaving but this government has ruined the economy after the ruin the euro caused us to since 2008…
It took international markets to rise to cause the euro to rise in order for this government to make out that Ireland is doing well but yet we do not have a say in the Euro we use but do not own?
In hindsight I think it made little difference that I got A’s in all subjects.
I realize now that I was destined for great things either way.
I’m doing my junior cert and it doesn’t feel like it
thankfully, not!
have your say