Number of Covid-19 close contacts halved, Health Minister says
Close contacts between individuals have dropped from six to three.
Ireland has increased its Covid-19 weekly testing capacity to 140,000, Health Minister Stephen Donnelly has said.
Mr Donnelly told the Oireachtas health committee on Wednesday that testing capacity has risen from 100,000 to 140,000.
He said: "I really just want to give the men and women of the HSE great credit for this. They're working night and day."
Minister Donnelly also told that the R number - the rate at which the virus spreads - has dropped from 1 last week to between 0.7 and 0.9 as of Wednesday morning.
Close contacts between individuals have dropped from six to three.
