More than 150 people have not shown up for Covid-19 tests across the north-west in recent days.
From 1st to 3rd of September, 12% of people referred for tests in local testing centres did not attend their appointments.
HSE figures released to Donegal Daily show that 154 people in the CHO 1 area were recorded as ‘did not attends’ between Tuesday and Thursday. In the same timeframe, 88% of people did attend their appointments in the region, which represents Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim and West Cavan.
Nationally, the number of people who do not attend for community testing is estimated at 25%, which equates to around 1,000 a day.
A spokesperson for the HSE has stressed the importance of people attending appointments when they have been referred: “We wish to encourage all of those who receive an appointment for testing at one of our Community Testing Centres to make every effort to attend as it is through contact tracing, testing and adhering to public health advice that we can all play are part in continuing to combat Covid-19.”
Donegal Community Testing Centre (CTC) at O’Donnell Park
Donegal recorded 35 new cases of Covid-19 in the past fortnight and 63 cases in total in the month of August. No new cases were confirmed in the county in yesterday’s update from the Department of Health, while 95 more cases were reported nationwide.
In the month of August, there were a total of 2,190 tests carried out at the Donegal Community Testing Centre (CTC) at O’Donnell Park, Letterkenny.
From next week, the testing facilities will be moving to a new location at the St Conal’s Hospital Campus.
