Coronavirus: testing centre trialled in Galway City

The HSE carried out a Covid-19 testing trial in a Galway City community centre this evening.

The trial was strictly for people with suspected coronavirus who had been referred by the HSE’s Department of Public Health – it was NOT a walk-in service and was NOT open to the general public.

Ambulance staff set up the temporary clinic in Renmore Community Centre shortly before 5pm.

It’s understood that around a dozen people were referred to the temporary clinic, a pilot scheme for rolling out similar testing facilities – an announcement is expected on Monday on new testing methods.

The Department of Health did not respond to queries from the Galway City Tribune this evening.

Meanwhile, in another first for Galway, clinical testing for Covid-19 (from swabs) was carried out at the Galway University Hospitals laboratory today.

Until now, samples had to be sent to the National Virus Reference Laboratory at University College Dublin.

Professor Martin Cormican, Consultant Microbiologist with NUI Galway and the HSE praised his medical science colleagues, whom he said “pulled out all the stops to get this done”.

The Department of Health announced tonight that another person has died in the Republic as a result of Covid-19, a male in the east of the country with an underlying medical condition

39 more cases of Covid-19 were confirmed today (29 men and 10 women). 21 are associated with the east of the country, 13 associated with the south, 3 associated with the north west, 2 cases associated with the west of Ireland. That brings the total for the Republic to 129 cases.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr Holohan added that the Department is to begin providing a county-by-county breakdown of confirmed coronavirus cases and renewed his appeal to people who display symptoms of Covid-19 should not ring 999/112 or an out-of-hours GP service, they need to contact their own GP by phone on Monday morning.

“I urge every citizen to follow these measures to protect our people, especially the most vulnerable in our society.

“I note also the pressure our emergency services phonelines were under today. 112/999 should only be used for emergencies, when an ambulance is required. This is not an advice line.

“If you have flu like symptoms, self isolate at home until Monday and visit hse.ie for advice. You can call your GP on Monday morning and they will decide if you need a test. Please only call 999 or GP out of hours for emergencies.”

Dr. Ronan Glynn, Deputy Chief Medical Officer said there were many anecdotal stories of busy pubs and restaurants and people ignoring the social distancing guidelines laid out on Thursday

“We are in an unprecedented global situation. Everyone in the country must play their part in protecting the most vulnerable and slowing down the spread of this disease.”