'Fine balancing act' between Covid-19 testing and restrictions

Photo: Dan Linehan

Dr Cillian De Gascun, chair of the Covid-19 Expert Advisory Group and director of the National Virus Reference Laboratory, has said there is a delicate balancing act between testing and restrictions which was why there had been a move to change the testing criteria.

However, he warned that there will need to be ‘triage’ testing because if every GP (there are 3,500) were to broaden the case definition for testing and refer two more patients every day that would be manageable, but if they were to refer four more patients per day that would “potentially” put “significant pressure” on testing facilities.