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A round of on-campus mass COVID-19 testing is to take place over the coming days at the University of Limerick (UL) to help manage a fresh outbreak of the virus among the student population.
The testing will be carried out by HSE Mid-West Community Healthcare and the National Ambulance Service in partnership with the Department of Public Health Mid West.
Dr Ronan Ryder, Director of the Student Health Centre at UL, said the service referred fewer than five patients for testing this day two weeks ago, but that this rose to 50 yesterday, Monday.
A spokesman for the Department of Public Health Mid West said it “has recorded more than 200 cases associated with the current student outbreak in Limerick since early January, the majority of cases were recorded in the past two to three weeks”.
University of Limerick is to facilitate on campus COVID-19 testing by HSE Mid-West Community Healthcare in a bid to prevent further transmission among the student population.
HSE releases details of local Covid-19 outbreaks By Live95 News Team via Pexels The HSE in the Mid-West is expressing concerns over an increase in social gatherings across the region, and is appealing to the public to avoid these behaviours during this critical period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In recent weeks, Public Health Mid-West has identified a growing number of social gatherings that have led to new infections and outbreaks in recent weeks. These include non-essential household visits and large social gatherings.
In one outbreak, a community outbreak of 38 cases occurred as a result of transmission among student population through a variety of social contact settings (i.e. social contact/gatherings, household visits, etc).