Covid outbreaks have more than doubled in schools across the country

It has been reported that Covid-19 outbreaks within schools in Ireland have more than doubled over the last week, with outbreaks being detected in 90 schools across the country.

According to the latest report from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, these Covid-19 outbreaks have led to approximately 412 staff and students being linked to infections.

The report shows that 78 out of the 90 schools affected were primary schools, 11 were post-primary schools and one was a special education school.

This news comes as the government considers when exactly to ease restrictions on children who are considered close contacts to a confirmed Covid case. Just last week, NPHET agreed that children should no longer be considered a close contact if they are showing no Covid symptoms and are not considered to be medically vulnerable.

This would mean that these children will no longer need to stay at home and miss school if they are flagged as a close contact to a confirmed Covid case.

Students across the country would miss around 11 to 14 days of school due to current restrictions. At the time of their meeting last week, NPHET had reportedly agreed to this recommendation under the condition that schools didn’t see a rise in Covid outbreaks.

Now due to these latest developments, it’s unknown whether or not these restrictions will be eased.

Furthermore, the report also revealed that there were nine outbreaks reported in childcare facilities last week, with 33 confirmed linked infections.

12 Shares

Latest

Trending