Rise in cases due to backlog, says Dr Holohan as he talks of HSE tensions
The country's Chief Medical Officer says he did not publicly announce a target of 100,000 Covid-19 tests a week to put pressure on the HSE.
Letters published today from HSE CEO Paul Reid to Jim Breslin, the Secretary General of the Department of Health, dated April 19, states Mr Reid was "extremely disappointed" in the Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan after he told a press briefing of the figure.
Speaking as a further 10 deaths from the virus were announced, bringing to 1,506 the total number dead from the illness in Ireland, Dr Holohan said it was not a case that he was attempting to publicly influence the speed with which the HSE ramped up its testing.
Dr Holohan said that the figure was subject of NPHET discussion and communicated to the HSE.
"There have been communication difficulties and so on but you're talking about a NPHET meeting that goes back almost a month ago.
"It would be implausible to think that there weren't disagreements from time to time."
Dr Holohan said that there were tensions in any high-pressure work scenario and that in some cases it can ensure better work. He said that Mr Breslin had responded to the letter, but he was not aware of the content of the letter.
Dr Colm Henry, the Chief Clinical Officer, said that there were tensions between people working to combat the virus, but this was natural.
"Our hospital staff are working hard, thousands of staff working seven days a week, and we configured our healthcare system into a Covid system.
"So, in such an environment, it will be impossible for me to say there are no tensions and there's no exchange of frustrations, but that to me at the end point of all this is that we work together to resolve things and that's what's happened in this testing regime."
Dr Holohan said that the sharp rise in the number of cases, up to 426 from 159 the day before, was due to a backlog of notifications from one hospital. At least 200 cases, some dating back to the middle of March, were not notified until early this week.
Dr Holohan said that the rise in cases did not represent a new wave of infections and he was taking steps to ensure other hospitals do not fail to notify the Department of Health about the illness.
This is very large number of cases that weren't reported to us. And the point I make is that no one here is interpreting these as being part of a new wave of infection.
"These are a large number of cases spread over a very lengthy period of time it goes right back to mid-March. The vast majority of hospitals are responsible and legally mandated for action to avoid these cases."
Dr Holohan said that he was not yet in a position to tell the public what advice he had given Cabinet ahead of tomorrow's expected announcement on the easing of restrictions. Ireland is due to move to Phase One of its road map to reopening parts of the economy on Monday, if NPHET advises that it is safe to do so.
However, he did say that the use of face coverings would be "important" in the next phase of fighting the illness.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is expected to announce the Government's decision on restrictions tomorrow.
