MORE than 17,000 Covid-19 tests were carried out across Donegal in July, new figures show. It is the highest number of tests carried out in Donegal since the pandemic began.

The number of people that have tested positive for coronavirus has increased sharply over the past few weeks in Donegal and people are being encouraged to get tested if they believe they may have Covid-19.

A walk-in Covid test centre, which opened in Buncrana in the middle of July to help the testing and tracing system, has swabbed 3,856 people between July 12 (when it opened) and July 28.

The largest centre in Donegal, St Conal’s, Letterkenny, carried out 11,345 tests from July 1 to July 28 inclusive while 2,292 people passed through the Cleary Centre, Donegal Town in the same period although it is only operational five days a week – Monday to Friday.

It comes as parts of Donegal continue to have the highest levels of Covid-19 infection in the State. More than 1,500 (1,528) new cases have been recorded across the county in the past two weeks.

The latest Covid-19 infection data based on local electoral areas (LEAs) shows that up to Monday last, Carndonagh had a 14-day Covid-19 incidence rate of 2,800 new cases per 100,000 population. It recorded 475 new cases among a population of 16,964 over the past fortnight.
All seven of Donegal’s LEAs are over the national 14-day incidence rate (344), with four of them among the ten highest in the country.
The rising numbers are in line with general Covid-19 updates and the increased prevalence of the Delta variant which now accounts for more than 90 per cent of new cases in Donegal.
Buncrana retains its second place ranking for Covid-19 incidence among LEAs, with its 14-day incidence rate rising from 1,073 new cases per 100,000 in last week’s figure to 1,475 per 100,000 with 330 new cases.
Donegal (253) is in fifth place with an incidence rate of 955 cases per 100,000 while Lifford-Stranorlar (176 new cases) is eighth at 680.
Elsewhere, Glenties (108 new cases) now has an incidence rate of 451.5 cases per 100,000 with Milford (59) and Letterkenny (127) sitting at 428.4 and 426.3 respectively.
The information is provided by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) and published each Thursday on the official Government hub data.