THE HSE HAS said it is expanding its testing in the community for the Covid-19 coronavirus, as it attempts to curb the spread during the two weeks of delay measures announced by the government yesterday.

Initially, the HSE was limiting testing mainly to close contacts of confirmed cases or those who had travelled to Ireland from an affected area such as northern Italy.

Now, anyone showing symptoms of the Covid-19 virus is being asked to self-isolate and to contact their GP (by phone) to assess whether they should be tested.

According to the HSE, the main symptoms to look out for are:

a cough – this can be any kind of cough, not just dry;

shortness of breath;

breathing difficulties;

fever (high temperature).

At a briefing today, Dr Sarah Doyle said the focus now is “on testing and getting to everyone who is exposed”.

She said shortness of breath is not common, but is an indication with this virus of a severe infection so people should “pay particular attention to that”.

Dr Colm Henry, Chief Clinical Officer, said the initial focus was on seeing people with flu-like symptoms but as clinicians gain more knowledge of this coronavirus, this has been narrowed down.

“The emphasis is on new fever, new cough,” he said. He said this may be “a wide net” but for people who are in the early stages of the virus, the symptoms are not very specific.

“Certainly we want to ramp up the testing to confirm they have Covid19, or excluding it.”

Dr Henry said: “We want to identify as many cases as possible, we’re not doing this purely for clinical reasons, but for public health reasons.”

Dr Sarah Doyle now explaining how self-isolation works - this is for people who are sick. And how self-quarantine works - this is for people who are well, but are contacts of a sick person. pic.twitter.com/FCovra7ia1 — Michelle Hennessy (@michellehtweet) March 13, 2020 Source: Michelle Hennessy /Twitter

HSE officials said the plan now is to expand the National Ambulance Service’s capacity to do home testing – they have done more than 750 of these so far – and they are in discussions with GP representatives about how GPs can assist with testing.

They will also begin using community testing centres.

To assist with contact tracing, 80 Defence Force cadets are currently being trained, with the first batch to be deployed today.

Paul Reid, CEO of the HSE said the wider contingency plan does include self-isolation centres separate from hospitals, with some hotels having already offered help.

The Garda Commissioner has also been in contact with the HSE to offer Templemore College, if required.

“We are not at that phase,” Reid said. “We don’t envisage to be there.”

Dr Colm Henry said the HSE is making wider contingency plans but he said it is important to focus on the current situation and the concrete things that can be done to prevent the spread.

“The report this morning about 10,000 beds, it doesn’t have to be 10,000 beds, it doesn’t have to be 5,000, it doesn’t have to be 2,000 what we’re making plans for that eventuality in the meantime we can do real things to reduce reliance on excess beds,” he explained.

Trolley numbers are significantly down and attendances at hospitals have also been reduced over the last week. The government’s €430 million support package will be used to improve capacity in acute hospital services, including additional beds and increased ICU investment.

The HSE said its procurement efforts have been effective so far in relation to personal protection equipment for healthcare staff, ventilation and dialysis equipment, portable radiography and additions to the ambulance fleet.