Vaccinated people account for third of new Covid cases

HSE lead for tracing and testing Niamh O’Beirne said 15,800 people were tested around the country on Monday alone.

Up to one in three new Covid-19 cases are now vaccinated people, the HSE lead for testing and tracing said.

The HSE is planning extra walk-in test centres as more people went for testing between Monday and Wednesday than at the start of any other week in this wave of infections.

This comes as chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan warned on Thursday that 61 people with Covid-19 are receiving critical care in hospital, the highest number since April 3 this year.

HSE lead for tracing and testing Niamh O’Beirne said 15,800 people were tested around the country on Monday alone. She said vaccinated people are now found positive in slightly higher numbers. 

“It ranges at the moment between 25% and 30% depending on the day," she said. 

The HSE had expected a rise in vaccinated people catching the virus, but said they are far less likely to be severely ill than unvaccinated people.

The national positivity rate is 14% with the most severely affected areas in Monaghan at 26% and Buncrana at 25%, she said. The average positivity rate in Cork across three sites is 14%, and in Kerry it is 13%.

However, Ms O’Beirne said the testing centre in Tralee has exceeded its capacity to offer same-day appointments. A pop-up centre was re-opened in Killarney on Thursday to meet demand.

“Kerry is really busy. The Tralee testing centre in the last seven days has done about 1,000 swabs by self-referrals,” she said.

Parts of Limerick are also seeing an increase in testing rates; a pop-up centre will open there on Monday.

Tipperary testing centres have seen a larger number of walk-in appointments this week, which Ms O’ Beirne was told by staff on the ground is linked to a growing number of outbreaks.

“People coming forward for testing are connected to the outbreaks and on the periphery of the outbreaks,” she said.

Between Wednesday and Thursday, 1,500 tests were carried out nationally linked back to outbreaks. These could be in workplaces, nursing homes or other group settings.

However, tracers have told Ms O’Beirne they are concerned some cases are being missed.

The average number of close contacts identified by positive cases is between 3.4 and 3.5, she said. This is noticeably lower than last summer when 10 was more common.

She urged people “not to self-select and to tell us the vaccinated contacts also.” 

Asymptomatic vaccinated close contacts do not need to go for testing, but she said many people are failing to identify that a mild headache or stuffy nose could be Covid-19.

The HSE text message alerting positive cases to their result also shares a link to a portal for uploading close contact details. So far only 12% of contacts have been reached this way.

“If they (cases) could prioritise that when they get the detected text, that would be really helpful,” Ms O’ Beirne said.

The department of health was notified of 1,866 further cases of Covid-19. There were 331 Covid-19 patients in hospitals. Up to Wednesday 79% of people aged over 12 are now fully vaccinated.