PROPOSALS for local councils in the North to be involved in the Covid-19 contact tracing process have been shelved by the Public Health Agency (PHA), it has been revealed.
Earlier in the lockdown, the PHA had contacted local authorities including Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, informing them that their assistance in contact tracing would be required.
Contact tracing, an established method to help prevent the further spread of infections such as Covid-19, is now being used by the PHA to target potential clusters which could spark new outbreaks.
The system works by identifying a confirmed case, contacting them by telephone and asking them who they have been in contact with. Individual contacts are identified as being ‘high risk’, ‘low risk’ or ‘no risk’.
It had been reported that a pool of local council environmental health offices across NI was being identified to assist the PHA with contact tracing.
But, at the monthly meeting of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council, chief executive Alison McCullagh informed members that, since the initial correspondence, the PHA had changed their approach.
She said, “They are now working on the basis of a contact tracing centre which will be based in Ballymena. They will not require the council or others to be part of it.”
The chief executive revealed that there would be an expression of interest process for environmental health officers.
Receive quality journalism wherever you are, on any device. Keep up to date from the comfort of your own home with a digital subscription.
Any time | Any place | Anywhere
SUBSCRIBE TO CURRENT EDITION TODAY
and get access to our archive editions dating back to 2007(CLICK ON THE TITLE BELOW TO SUBSCRIBE)