The HSE says there are no immediate plans to scale back Covid-19 testing.
It comes as the number of daily COVID-19 cases in Clare has signficantly reduced over the weekend.
The Covid 19 virus is currently being treated as a pandemic – meaning it’s a worldwide issue but at some stage it’ll move to endemic – meaning it’s present but controlled.
NPHET has been considering its options for this time including scaling back testing for young children and vaccinated people if their symptoms are mild.
But the HSE says there are no plans for this to happen anytime soon – over 155,000 tests were carried out in the past week with children making up almost half of them.
However, the number of COVID-19 cases in this county took a sharp fall over the weekend after 56 were confirmed on Thursday, one of the highest daily case numbers in Clare in many months.
It’s understood that figure dropped to just seven cases on Friday, with a further 15 people in Clare testing positive for the virus on Saturday.
Niamh O’Beirne, National Lead for Testing and Tracing with the HSE, says high testing demand means things will stay the same for now.
Thousands of children – including here in Clare – remain out of school this week because they are considered close contacts of someone with covid.
The HSE says of the tests carried out last week among children – just 7 per cent were positive.
Niamh O’Beirne says there may need to be a rethink of contact tracing in schools.
