Ireland says rise in coronavirus cases is due to increased testing

Ireland's highest number of daily coronavirus cases reported so far is due to increased testing and not as a result of the virus spreading more quickly among the population, the country's chief medical officer said on Wednesday. Ireland's total cases rose to 12,547 after positive results were returned from 657 samples tested in Irish laboratories, and a further 411 samples mostly taken in March that were sent to a German laboratory to help clear a backlog in testing.

Ireland had carried out just over 90,000 tests by the end of Monday, proportionately among the highest in Europe, the health department says. That was more than double the 42,500 completed a week earlier with the vast majority of the backlog now cleared. "We think this is more the increase in testing that we have been doing. We've kept an eye on the percentage of cases that are positive during the week and it has stayed pretty constant," Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan told a news conference.

"It could be either that you're doing more testing and picking up more cases or that there is truly an increase in the number of cases in the population. We think it's the former... As we've increased the number of tests, we've got a proportional increase in the number of cases identified." Health officials have been encouraged by a stabilization in the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care. Holohan said that of the 285 admitted to date, 158 remained in critical care, with 84 discharged and 43 fatalities.

He also reported a significant drop in recent days in the number of referrals from local doctors, with many of the positive tests now likely to come from hospitals and nursing homes, where the spread is of particular concern to officials.