Walk-in coronavirus testing will be introduced in parts of the country with a high incidence of the disease, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said.

Mr Donnelly said the exact locations would be announced shortly, but that people could avail of the facility without a referral in order to bolster the State’s fight against Covid-19.

“We are seeing more cases associated with commuting to work, outdoor gatherings, indoor gatherings. The question now is: what do we do? One of the things we are doing is we are targeting the virus where we know it is.

Hospital Report

“So this week we will be introducing walk-in PCR testing without a referral in some parts of the country where we have seen a very high incidence.

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“We are also further increasing the bio-security measures at the Border to protect against variants, and that is what hotel quarantine is all about. And then the third area is pushing on as quickly as we can with the vaccination programme.”

The Government and HSE had previously said the plan was to vaccinate 250,000 people every week from the month of April onwards.

Asked whether this would now be achieved, Mr Donnelly said “the capacity is in place for that” but the health service was dependent on promised vaccines materialising.

When asked if the 250,000 promised doses would be delivered next week, Mr Donnelly said “the bit we can control is having the capacity in place, the bit we are dependent on the pharmaceutical companies for is to deliver, and if they deliver then the answer is yes.”

Mr Donnelly said it was expected by the end of this month that more than one million vaccine doses will have been received if all deliveries go to plan.

Strategy

A further 24 deaths of Covid-19 patients were reported by the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) on Monday. This brought to 4,610 the total number of deaths in the Republic since the pandemic began.

Another 371 confirmed cases of the disease were reported, the lowest daily total in the last week.

In Northern Ireland there were two more deaths and 174 further confirmed cases.

Speaking to reporters, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the strategy pursued by the Government since January had worked and the numbers had come down. Supporters of a “zero-Covid” policy had “become mute in recent times”, he said.

Asked about the zero-Covid campaign, he said the main problem with it was the ill-defined approach around the border. “Sealing the Border or sealing counties is not very realistic,” he said, adding that zero-Covid would mean a much longer lockdown.

Meanwhile, opinion polling from the Department of Health indicates public confidence in Covid vaccinations is recovering from a slight dip recorded during the suspension of the AstraZeneca shot last week.

Tracking research from the Department of Health, based on sampling undertaken on Monday, found the number of people who say they would definitely take the Covid-19 vaccine when it is offered to them is now 72 per cent, which has recovered to the same level as it was prior to the AstraZeneca news.

This follows a five-point fall to 67 per cent last Monday the day after the National Immunisation Advisory Council advised that the use of the shot be suspended.

Prof Pete Lunn, a behavioural economist with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) , said that the drop last week was statistically significant "and comfortably so".

“It coincides with the [AstraZeneca] news, so there’s no doubt what’s driving it. It now appears to have gone back to what it was prior to the story.”

However, he said there was an indication in the Department of Health data that the impact of the suspension had not totally dissipated based on other metrics measured among the sample size of 2,000 people.

Vaccine concern

He pointed to a level of vaccine concern among people which, while decreasing from last week’s levels of 41 per cent to a current level of 38 per cent, was nonetheless above where it had been the previous week, when 33 per cent of people indicated concerns.

He also pointed to a similar trend among those who said they would be worried about side effects. Prior to the AstraZeneca news, this was 25 per cent, before jumping to 34 per cent on March 15th and dropping two points to 32 per cent this week.

“It’s as if people have absorbed the news, built it into a trade-off and said they will still get it; but it still hasn’t taken the level of concern away totally,” he said.

“It’s left a legacy that’s lasted a little longer than a week. For now it has left a little legacy of concern; it’s not much but it’s noticeable.”