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One of Ireland’s largest prisons has been affected by a Covid-19 outbreak.
Five inmates have been diagnosed with the virus at Midland Prison, Portlaoise, Co Laois, it was confirmed tonight.
Now all 777 prisoners must be evaluated to try to block the pandemic and control the spread as much as possible.
This is the first time that Covid has been detected in an Irish prison.
Until now, only inmates in pre-trial detention and coming and going to appear in court had been infected.
All were isolated and removed from the permanent prison population in each jail in which they were detained.
None of the five have been hospitalized so far, but they are being closely monitored in case their condition worsens.
(Image: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin)
In a statement, the Irish Prison Service said: “Five prisoners tested positive for Covid-19 and were isolated in accordance with infection control procedures.
“We are working closely with Public Health and the CHO testing team at the HSE and contact tracing is ongoing.
“The positive cases refer to an area of the prison and all the prisoners housed in this area and the personnel who are assigned to the area have been examined.
“All other prisoners and staff at Midlands Prison are being screened as a precaution.”
It is understood that a meeting of the Outbreak Control Team has been held to review the cases and agree on the appropriate actions to be taken against the possible spread of the disease within the prison.
A prison source said: “We are not prepared to say who the inmates with Covid are. We are doing everything in our power to ensure that it does not spread among the prison population in the Midlands.”
Irish prisons were among the few in Europe that had not been affected by the pandemic.
The rest of the country’s prisons are still Covid-free after great efforts by prison staff and the inmates themselves.
There are currently about 3,700 prisoners incarcerated in the Republic.
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