AN INITIAL OUTBREAK of Covid-19 at a meat plant in the west of the country caused more than 100 additional cases of the virus after it spread in the community, new data has shown.

A number of linked cases of Covid-19 were highlighted by health officials at this evening’s briefing of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) to show how the virus can spread.

Dr Lorraine Doherty, clinical director of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, used a number of slides to explain how different outbreaks led to further chains of transmission in the community.

The slides included examples of the impact of a person becoming sick in the workplace, before going home or to another event and infecting more people.

“Always remember family outbreaks have to start somewhere,” she explained. “Someone in their family had to get their infection somewhere.”

In the first slide, an illustration was given of an outbreak at a construction site in the northwest of the country, where 11 cases occurred.

One of those infected subsequently attended a wake and a funeral, leading to an additional 14 cases a week later.

A further eight cases were caused in households by four other infected workers at the site, who infected their families and wider family members.

In another slide, an illustration was given of community outbreak among third-level students in the midwest which initially affected 61 people.

One of the affected students worked as a waitress at a wedding in a local hotel, which transmitted the virus to both staff and wedding guests, causing a further 16 positive cases, which in turn led to four further cases in private households.

“We can see quite clearly sort of that the domino effect of cases sort of rippling through the community,” Doherty said of the slide.

A final slide illustrated a workplace outbreak in a meat plant last year, where 83 initial cases led to more than 100 additional cases.

The initial outbreak of 83 people infected a further 17 people across seven family outbreaks, as well as two cases in one extended family outbreak and seven cases among students at a school.

And a household contact of one of the 83 initially infected also worked in another meat plant, where 76 people later tested positive for Covid-19.

The second meat plant outbreak led to an additional 35 cases across 19 family outbreaks, as well as two community outbreaks with another two cases.

“People have been attending events, they become unwell, they bring their infection home to their to their loved ones who may be elderly, who may be frail and have medical conditions that make them more susceptible to illness,” Doherty said.

“Every infection has a consequence.”

An additional 1,466 cases of Covid-19 were also confirmed by health officials at the briefing this evening, along with 47 more deaths.