Poor contact tracing capacity and travel behind 500-plus per day Covid cases

Virus case numbers have remained stubbornly higher than Nphet's modelling predicted. Niamh Griffin reports

File Photo: NPHET indicated at Friday's briefing that the plateauing of Covid-19 infection numbers was being caused by increased social mobility and mixing. Picture: Eamonn Farrell / RollingNews.ie

It feels as if Ireland has been in Level 5 since time began, but somehow daily case numbers have rarely dropped below 500 this month. Why is this?

There are a number of pressure points, from the virus itself and also from pre-existing problems in the health system.