HSE: Children displaying low-grade symptoms in school will not be tested for Covid-19

Paul Reid confirmed that testing in meat plants is being paid for by the State, not private operators. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Testing 100,000 people per week does not make economic sense, while children who display low-grade symptoms in schools will not automatically receive a Covid-19 test, the head of the HSE has said.

Speaking to the Oireachtas special committee on Covid-19 Paul Reid, chief executive of the HSE, said that the goal both at the height of the Covid pandemic and at the current time was to achieve capacity of 100,000 tests per week, rather than to actually perform that number.