Hygiene officers no longer able to trace all contacts as Covid numbers soar

Hygiene officers say they no longer have the capacity to trace the contacts of all Covid positive cases reported and will focus on tracing the contacts of people under 18 and over 65. Others will be asked to fill in a self-tracing form where they will be asked to report all epidemiologically significant contacts for two days before the onset of the first symptoms until the date of receiving a positive PCR test. The change in tracing rules is being made ahead of an expected upsurge in cases linked to a wave of Omicron infections. Already 80 percent of all Covid cases reported are of the Omicron variant.

On Monday the number of new cases jumped by 20, 270, that’s over 13,000 more than on the same day a week ago. The incidence number is now at 799 per 100,000 people.