Rapid Covid testing could be rolled out in schools and colleges from September.
It's part of a new HSE plan to enhance testing and tracing over the coming months. Around one in five cases of coronavirus in the last two weeks have been marked as community transmission - which means health officials don't know how where people picked it up.
From today, the HSE is going to ask close contacts where they've been in the 7 days before testing positive - rather than two days.
The aim is to track down the original source of infection and identify high-risk settings. Public health specialist Dr Greg Martin says they're trying to chase down every last case.
There are also plans for antigen testing to be used more widely in workplaces like construction - as well as schools and colleges. The HSE's National Lead for testing and tracing, Niamh O'Beirne, says it won't be rolled out until the new academic year.
The latest HSE figures show 257 schools had at least one case last week - 40 per cent higher than the previous week.
But the positivity rate has fallen - and is now just under 2 per cent.
