Nobody expected Ireland’s contact tracing system to be under this level of strain, this early in the winter, according to Professor Philip Nolan.

It comes as thousands of coronavirus patients are being asked to carry out their own contact tracing because the system is unable to deal with the level of demand.

Around 2,500 people who tested positive over the weekend will today receive a test message from the HSE which they will be asked to forward on to anyone they were in contact with.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, the Chair of the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) modelling group, Professor Philip Nolan the situation is “disappointing.”

He said it highlights the need for further investment in public health.

“It is disappointing,” he said. “At the same time, it is the right thing to do.

“One of the things the HSE has been doing over the last several months is enhancing that contact tracing system and investing in public health.

“What this demonstrates is, we need to continue to do that over the next six weeks so that we are better prepared on the other side of the six weeks than we appear to be now.”

Investment

Asked why the HSE had not built up contact tracing capacity over the summer, Professor Nolan said the size of the early winter surge has taken officials by surprise.

“A huge amount of that was done during the summer but none of us, until recently certainly, were predicting 1,200 cases a day this early in the winter,” he said.

“That workload has come on the HSE much quicker than any of us expected.

“It is disappointing, there is no doubt about it, and there is a lesson in it for even greater investment as quickly as possible, in public health primarily and also in contact tracing and testing.”

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