A SURGE in new Covid-19 cases in Co Donegal has been described as a major “setback”.
Latest figures showed a one-day increase of 67 in the number of cases notified on Saturday putting Donegal only second behind Dublin for the highest number of cases in the Republic.
The figures are the highest daily figures recorded in the county in almost two months.
The high number of cases also increases Donegal’s 14-day incidence from 177.8 per 100,000 to 211.7, well above the Republic's average which stands at 155.3.
Staff at the main testing centre in Letterkenny also reported being busy on Sunday with long queues of people waiting in cars to be tested.
While the cause of the sudden surge in cases is not known, a GP has suggested it could be down to some social interaction event around a week beforehand.
Dr Paul Armstrong, who is the clinical lead at Letterkenny’s covid hub centre, said the latest figures were particularly disappointing because the county had been doing reasonably well.
Dr Armstrong said: “We were definitely heading in the right direction; we were all looking forward to opening up in some capacity, matching the north over the next few weeks.”
The Donegal medic told Highland Radio people should redouble their efforts to contain the virus.
Dr Armstrong said the source of the latest surge was unknown. He suggested a number of sources such as people refusing to accept that coronavirus was a serious problem. While children who have returned to schools were “relatively safe” from Covid, they could also pass the virus on, he said.
“This is definitely a setback and people do need to redouble their efforts and efforts need to be made to find out why this has occurred and where it has occurred."
