More than 8,000 new cases of coronavirus were reported over the weekend and the State’s testing system is bracing itself for a surge in demand from today as more GP surgeries reopen after the Christmas break.

New figures show that testing has recently far outstripped the levels required during the second wave of the pandemic last autumn as infections rise to record levels due to people socialising during the holidays.

There were 23,000 people swabbed for the virus over the weekend, the highest number over a weekend since the pandemic hit in March.

Hospital Report

The National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on Sunday reported a record 4,962 confirmed cases of the disease, bringing the total to 101,887. A further seven virus-related deaths were also reported, bringing the total to 2,259 people. A then record 3,394 cases were reported on Saturday as well as four deaths linked to the disease.

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In a statement last night, chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan said the State was seeing a “really significant” surge in infections that is leading to “a very rapid increase in both hospitalisations and admissions to critical care units”.

Deeply concerning

“This is not only unsustainable for the healthcare system, but also a deeply concerning level of preventable sickness and suffering that we must work together to address as quickly as possible.”

The highest day for GP referrals for testing to date was 15,000 one day last week. The HSE expects this number may be exceededon Monday as more people contact GPs after the holidays.

“We would expect it to be a busy day for GP referrals given that they are reopening, although we have found out of hours [services] have worked really well while some practices have been closed,” said Niamh O’Beirne, national lead for testing and tracing within the HSE.

There were more than 21,000 people swabbed last Thursday, New Year’s Eve, and more than 20,000 last Wednesday, breaking previous records of 12,000 tested on two days in the autumn.

The average number of close contacts of newly infected people has fallen to about 4.4 from six last week in a sign that the Level 5 restrictions may be having some effect on people mixing, though the numbers of new cases remain at the highest levels of the pandemic.

The increased number of people seeking testing has pushed the HSE’s testing and tracing system to capacity, resulting last week in close contacts not being referred for testing with testing prioritised for people with coronavirus symptoms and serial testing in nursing homes.

Close contacts of confirmed cases are still being notified by text that they have been in contact with an infected person and being told to contact their GP if they are suffering symptoms.

Daily swabs

“We are coping at the moment and we are managing the demand,” said Ms O’Beirne.

Official coronavirus statistics reported on Sunday said there was a 17.6 per cent positivity rate on 20,586 tests, or 3,623 positive results, reported over the previous 24 hours.

Most of these positive results lead to cases being reported later by Nphet in the daily tally, but between 5 and 10 per cent of results are duplicates.

Ms O’Beirne said that if symptomatic cases continued to increase, then Nphet would need to prioritise cases sent for testing as the lab testing system was at its limit with 21,000 daily swabs in the community on top of testing in acute hospitals and serial testing in nursing homes.

“It won’t be immediate because at the moment we can deal with the demand that is coming through but we will see what happens in the coming days,” she said.

The contact tracing system has changed to cope with the surge in cases by combining two calls – to inform people they are infected and to collect close contacts – into one call lasting 20 minutes. There were 5,000 calls made on Saturday when the call capacity is usually 1,800.

“We ask less questions because the main focus is to get the close contacts,” said Ms O’Beirne.

In addition to more than 750 full-time contact tracers hired last year, the HSE has, over the Christmas period, recruited more than 100 Defence Forces personnel and a further 100 HSE environmental health officers to assist in tracing contacts of newly confirmed cases.