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IRELAND will be free of its order book of 11,000 avid tests by the end of the week, according to the HSE CEO.
Paul Reid revealed this morning that Ireland’s order book had dropped significantly from 35,000 and will be completely phased out this week.
He said this is due to more laboratories being available and the export of tests to European laboratories.
Of the order book, 80% will be completed in German laboratories and only 20% will be in Ireland.
Reid noted that there are differences in wait times depending on where the tests are conducted and that his goal will be to narrow this gap.
He said: “Our response times for tests completed in hospitals are currently between 24 hours and 36 hours.
“With our community testing we know we have more work to do.”
The death toll from Covid-19 in Ireland reached 365 today, while a total of 10,647 cases have been confirmed.
In Northern Ireland, 118 people have died while 1,806 have been diagnosed with the deadly disease.
Combining the two counts, 483 people have been killed by the virus on the island, while 12,453 people have tested positive.
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