Holohan: Contact tracing alone cannot reverse Covid-19 spread

Dr Holohan said he was “not overly worried” by the breakdown of the system this week, which has led to 2,000 positive cases being asked to carry out their own tracing. However, he said that there was no immediate plan to change the case definition as had been done in March.

“We’re not going to contact trace our way out of an exponential growth in the virus.

“It’s not reasonable to think that you can contact trace large burdens of infection and hope that it will allow you to carry large burdens going forward.

“There’s still a huge exercise under way with relation to contact tracing and much that we can learn from it, but it’s now back to us as individuals. The Government isn’t going to wash your hands for you.”

Dr Holohan said that every person in the country should act as if they are a close contact of a case. 

He said that it was important that people regarded all social mixing as non-essential and adhere to “not just the letter of what is being advised, but the spirit of it, too”.

Deputy chief medical officer Dr Heather Burns said that the risk of contracting the disease in Ireland was now 100 times greater than it was in June.

“The 14-day incidence was at three per 100,000 at the end of June, today it is 302 per 100,000 population. The risk of you being exposed to Covid-19 is now 100 times greater than it was four months ago. Please limit your risk by staying at home and following public health advice.”

Meanwhile, Thomas Gould, Sinn Féin TD for Cork North Central, has raised serious concerns about the recruitment plan for Cork/Kerry testing and tracing services.

He said figures released to him in a parliamentary question showed that recruitment of tracers in the south was incomplete, a situation he said was unsustainable.

“It was confirmed to me that over 18 nurses and over 96 staff have been redeployed from the health service to contact tracing in Cork and Kerry.

“I have also been informed that the recruitment process if 50% completed. This means that currently the HSE have employed an additional 30 contact tracers and the service is still overwhelmed due to understaffing. 

"The same letter commits to the return of staff in cohorts starting from November 2. It is abundantly clear that the 60 replacement contact tracers are not enough. There should be no need to recruit people now. We had the opportunity to prepare for a second wave of this virus.”