"A month ago we had over 7,000 cases in one day, happily we are down to 7,000 cases a week." Dr Jennifer Martin was instrumental in setting up the information technology for Ireland's contact tracing system, which identifies anyone who has been in contact with someone with Covid-19.
We met in the old eir building near to Dublin’s Heuston Station, which is now empty apart from the two floors occupied by HSE contact tracers. "It all started down in the basement of Dr Steevens' Hospital, now one year later we have a super professional workforce," said Dr Martin.
There are 800 contact tracers based around the country. This particular centre opened in December just as Ireland was entering the third wave of Covid-19 infections.