Covid-19: Officials concerned at rise in cases among children

Extra testing and other public health measures may be introduced to tackle high Covid-19 case numbers in some counties, according to the National Public Health Emergency Team. Nphet is considering an “enhanced response” to deal with areas with high disease incidence, assistant chief medical officer Dr Ronan Glynn told a briefing on Monday. Officials expressed concern about a rise in cases among younger children but said only a minority of these related to transmission in schools. Although about 50-60 cases a day are being reported among children of primary school going age, only about 10 per cent of these are associated with school outbreaks, according to Prof Philip Nolan, chair of the Nphet epidemiological modelling advisory group.