The opening of five new walk-in Covid-19 testing centres for people with no symptoms represents the first large-scale attempt to hunt down the virus in the community.
As the county with the highest 14-day incidence rate of Covid-19 in the country, Offaly is one of the locations with a pop-up centre.
Steady streams of people have been arriving at the centre in the car park of the Tullamore Leisure Centre since it opened this morning, with a definite increase in numbers into the afternoon.
The centres were set up and are operated by the National Ambulance Service. The Health Service Executive says around one in five people have no symptoms and can spread the virus without knowing and that testing people with no symptoms will help to find