Air Corps helicopter used to move Covid-19 patient from Kerry to Dublin for intensive care at the weekend

HSE boss Paul Reid says the pressure on the critical care system is "relentless" -- with 211 patients with the virus in ICU yesterday. 

1,247 more people have tested positive including 87 people in Cork, while 15 more patients have died.

Infectious diseases consultant Professor Sam McConkey says the health system needs to go beyond simply testing close contacts of confirmed cases. 
"Almost like in these white incident tents like you see with the Garda when there's a murder, for example- go to the site of the murder. Similarly, we could have testing teams, going to the locations where we have one or two cases and offering testing immediately to the close contact or casual contact or even neighbours and people who just want to be tested. So we're bringing testing to the people, rather than asking people to call the GP when they get symptoms like drive for testing which takes much longer."