More than eighty per cent attended the St Conal’s, Letterkenny, testing centre while a further 1,854 went through the Cleary Centre, Donegal Town, which remains closed at weekends. 338 were tested at the pop-up testing centre in Buncrana in the days leading up to its closure at the end of September.

It comes as 1,025 cases of Covid-19 have been notified in Donegal in the last fourteen days. The county now has the tenth highest 14-day incidence rate of 643.9 cases per 100,000 population behind Carlow, Kerry, Longford and Waterford who all have rates above 1,000.

The Covid-19 vaccine uptake figures across the country over the Bank Holiday weekend shows that almost 5,000 people received dose 1 and dose 2 vaccines between Friday and Monday.

Almost one-third (32.5%) were in the 12 to 15 age group with 18-30 (24.9%) and 20-39 (19.4%).

According to official HSE figures, Donegal (85.9%) has the second lowest percentage of adults fully vaccinated behind Monaghan (84.7%). Laois (87.7%) is the only other county in the country to have less than ninety per-cent vaccination rates.

The Letterkenny Vaccination Centre relocated to the Community Assessment Hub on the Kilmacrennan Road earlier this month and the first clinic took place in the new location on Saturday, October 9. The vaccination centre is running walk-in clinics every week and details of the times and dates of the walk-in clinics are updated weekly on hse.ie.

This week there are walk-in clinics taking place from 10.15am to 4.30pm on both Saturday and Sunday.

The clinics are open to anyone aged 12 and above. Anyone aged 16 or older can attend a walk-in clinic alone. Children aged 12 to 15 must attend with a parent or guardian who will need to give consent for their child to get their Covid-19 vaccine. Children attending alone will not be vaccinated.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health said he is ‘increasingly worried’ about the rising incidence of the disease nationwide.

“We are seeing a continuing increase in hospitalisation and intensive care admissions – a substantial amount of whom are not fully vaccinated – placing our frontline healthcare services, including non-Covid care, under significant pressure.

“It is essential that we do everything we can to break the chains of transmission of the Delta variant, in the community, in the workplace and in our homes. If you experience symptoms of Covid-19, even if you are vaccinated, please stay at home, isolate from others and arrange a free test immediately.

“If you have not done so already, please choose to protect yourself by availing of your free Covid-19 vaccine which will significantly reduce your risk of severe illness if you contract the disease.

“The vaccine, our best defence against Covid-19, is not the only tool we have to drive down the spread of the disease. Please continue to regularly wash your hands, cover your coughs and sneezes, open windows and ensure spaces are well ventilated, wear masks on public transport, shops, indoor workplaces and crowded outdoor areas, and by keeping a safe two metre distance from others as much as possible.”