HEALTH OFFICIALS ARE expecting an increase in the number of people being tested for the coronavirus over the next week after a slight change in the case definition.
Before the change, only those in priority groups such as healthcare workers and people with chronic illnesses, who had a fever and one other symptom of Covid-19 were eligible for testing. Household contacts of healthcare workers are also prioritised.
Now, people in those groups will continue to be prioritised but they will only have to have one symptom of the main three:
“As part of the clinical definition heretofore, we required patients to have a fever and fevers did not occur in every person with this particular illness, that’s something we’re aware of,” Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said this evening.
He said the change requiring just one symptom will mean there are more people who will meet the case definition and will be eligible for a test referral.
Dr Cillian de Gascun, director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory at UCD said the testing programme in residential care facilities is also continuing.
“We believe that will take us through to next weekend then we’ll be able to broaden out the case definition further.”
He said in the coming weeks testing will include asymptomatic contacts of confirmed cases, which hasn’t been done previously.
De Gascun said laboratories in Ireland will reach a capacity of 70,000 tests per week by the end of next week, and 100,000 by the week of 18 May. The current wait time for results is 24 to 48 hours.
Dr Mary Favier, President of the Irish College of General Practitioners today warned of “unacceptable waiting times” for results if capacity is not there to deal with increased testing numbers.
“In addition, contact tracing needs to be timely and appropriately organised in order to deal with the anticipated rise in new cases revealed by increased testing,” she said.
“If a test result is positive, public health must ensure they have the resources to quickly trace that person’s contacts to ensure we are then managing the ongoing spread of the disease.
“Without this resource being widely and consistently available, we will see a further inevitable surge in infection rates. Such a surge will place significant additional pressures on general practice and the wider healthcare services.
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