LAST UPDATE | 1 Mar 2020

THE DEPARTMENT OF Health has said it will issue a public notice if it is not able to contact individuals who came into contact with the male currently being treated for Covid-19.

Dr Ronan Glynn, deputy chief medical officer in the department, told the This Week programme on RTÉ Radio One this afternoon that contact tracing is something that public health officials have been doing for years. 

In this latest case, Glynn said it was commenced in the past 24 hours and is ongoing. 

Last night, the first case of the Covid-19 coronavirus in the Republic of Ireland was confirmed. The patient is a male and a resident in the eastern part of the country. 

A process is underway to contact individuals who may have had close contact with the patient. 

Glynn said the process is about ensuring that people who need information are provided with it.   

“What I can say is that the people, in the first instance the doctors who need to have this information, have this information. And they will be contacting the contacts, who need to have more information,” Glynn said.

We are constantly striking a balance. And we have been open and transparent throughout this process about the developing situation internationally, our preparedness here, and we will continue to give more information as the situation evolves. But we have got to at all times protect the confidentiality of individual patients. 

Glynn said such contract tracing processes are regularly engaged in “for a whole range of infectious diseases”. 

“I can absolutely reassure people that if there’s a close contact of any case, I’m speaking in general terms here, if any case is identified as having been on a flight, the close contact of that person will be contacted and given appropriate advice,” he said, adding other methods will be employed if required:

In the past, if necessary, we will issue a public notice where that’s necessary. If we’re not confident that we can contact close contacts in another way, we will take the appropriate steps at the appropriate time. But at this moment in relation to this case, contact tracing is going on.

Contact

Glynn said that if people are concerned they should seek out information from the HSE: 

For anyone who’s concerned whether they’ve been on a flight, whether they’ve come back from an affected region, or whether it’s someone who hasn’t travelled at all and just wanted more information, I would urge everyone to go to HSE.ie. It’s updated daily gives the latest advice, both in relation to Ireland and what’s happening internationally. 

He added, however, that the rest of infection in Ireland remains low:

I would reiterate again, that the risk to an individual in Ireland at the moment remains low. People should not panic, but they should certainly appraise themselves of the measures that they themselves can take to protect themselves. And first and foremost, that’s about following the correct information and using basic hand hygiene. 

Testing

The Department of Health said last night it would provide an update on the number of people in Ireland tested for Covid-19 this coming Tuesday. 

Speaking about this this afternoon, Glynn said testing figures are provided on a weekly basis based on the number up to close of business on a Monday.

Up to last week 90 people had been tested and Glynn said today that people should expect this to have “increased significantly” because the number of affected areas was also expanded last week 

“What I can say is that our laboratory capacity is more than capable for managing the number of tests that are required at the moment,” he added. 

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Asked about the potential that an escalation in the number of cases could, for example, cause the closure of schools, as has happened elsewhere, Glynn said this is not something the department is yet considering. 

“It’s possible that measures like that will need to be taken, and we need to continue to monitor the situation clearly as it evolves. But again, I’d reiterate that at the moment, we’re in containment phase and that’s not something we envisage in the near future. 

But obviously we’re monitoring developments. If measures like that need to be taken, they will be taken and the reasoning behind those measures will be communicated to the public.

Earlier today, Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said a decision on whether or not to postpone or cancel the St Patrick’s Day parade in Dublin will be taken by the end of this week. 

Asked about the status of the parade, Glynn said the Department of Health will provide “a criteria for gatherings in the coming days” that will allow the organisers of any event to make a decision themselves. 

“But clearly there will be events of major or national significance that will require input from public health doctors and medical expertise and yes, there will be a process in place around that within the coming days,” he added. 

Covid-19 has spread to more than 60 countries around the globe, prompting the World Health Organisation to raise its risk assessment to its highest level.

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.