Health officials are warning about how quickly coronavirus can spread over the course of a weekend.

They have say a couple attending a house party and dinner in a pub led to many positive COVID-19 cases, with the outbreak ultimately leading to a total of 30 cases.

Dr Breda Smyth, Director of Public Health of HSE West, explained what happened.

Image via Department of Health

She said: "A couple went on a trip away - they arrived back on day one of the weekend and attended a house party.

"At this house party... there were eight people, and six out of the eight people became positive with COVID.

"They stayed overnight with a family, and three out of four of the household became positive. Three further social contacts of the family became positive."

Dr Smyth said one of the couple the following day went to a dinner party in town with another group of friends.

She explained: "In that dinner party, there were four people and all four became positive.

"In the bar/restaurant that that dinner party was, there was a table adjacent... and all six members of that adjacent table became positive, and also four staff in that establishment became positive.

"The index case with another friend then went to another drinks venue to meet a party of four... all four became positive.

"This demonstrates over two days in a weekend, how quickly the virus can spread and how important to restrict your social interactions."

House parties

Dr Smyth gave another example of two student house parties that resulted in 21 cases.

She said: "One of the people at the house party had dinner with a friend doing a course in a university.

"The student at the university was attending a class of 26 people - 15 of the 26 became positive. So in total there were 36 cases."

She urged people to socialise safely no matter what age they are, and to only meet in small groups.

Main image via Department of Health