Thousands of people who tested positive for Covid-19 over the weekend will
be asked to do their own contact tracing.
The HSE is to send a text to 2,500 people in the coming days to tell others
they've been in close contact.
HSE contact tracers faced an unprecedented number of newly infected people
and weren't able to keep up with the demand for contact tracing from Friday
until Sunday last weekend.
Those who tested positive over the weekend are to get a text message which
will ask them to tell their close contacts to phone their GP.
The Irish Times reports a decision was made not to get in touch with those
who tested positive for their close contacts as it would've just led to
delay.
The papers says people over the age of 70, and schoolchildren are among the
people who are affected by the backlog.
Its feared there may be up to 8,000 close contacts affected.