The Easter bank holiday weekend saw families gather and socialise which will likely result in an increase in cases numbers over the coming days.

Dr Breslin said there are approximately 60 to 70 positive PCR tests being recorded in Donegal every day on top of the same number of antigen tests bringing the total figure to around 120 cases daily. However he believes there may be an under reporting of positive cases due to people not thinking they have Covid, not getting tested, or not reporting their positive test.

“There probably will be a slight increase following Easter but I don’t think it will be as bad as St Patrick’s Day because that was the first holiday after the lockdown ended,” said Dr Breslin.

“We are still seeing outbreaks in residential facilities and nursing homes. The numbers involved are small. There are around 25 facilities affected in the north west at the moment.

“We are asking the staff and everyone else to maintain and follow the current guidelines, mask wearing and infection control procedures in health care settings.”

Act responsibly

As always Dr Breslin is encouraging people to act responsibly when it comes to living with the virus.

“We want to encourage a general sensible behaviour so that we don’t see businesses, factories, shops and restaurants closing because of a small number of cases,” he said.

Looking ahead to the summer season when Donegal will see an influx of tourists Dr Breslin believes socialising outdoors as the weather improves will help keep the numbers at bay.

He said the new Omicron strain, known as Omicron XE, is not currently a cause for concern but Public Health Specialists will be keeping a close eye on it.

“As long as Covid is around the virus will keep changing but what we don’t want is a more serious and significant variant,” he added.

Case numbers have also fallen at Letterkenny University Hospital where 23 patients with the virus were being treated as of Tuesday evening with one patient in the Intensive Care Unit. This has come down substantially from 64 cases in the hospital three weeks ago.