Testing options assessed as death toll across Ireland exceeds 1,000

There has been over 1,000 deaths in Ireland north and south according to the latest figures. 
A further 49 people diagnosed with COVID-19 in the Republic have passed away, according to this evening's announcement by the National Public Health Emergency Team. It was also announced that the medics in charge of fighting the Coronavirus have requested HIQA to assess the other options for testing, with the aim of further increasing capacity of identifying those with COVID-19.
There have now been 769 laboratory confirmed COVID-19 related deaths in the Republic - which is a figure revised down by 10 after "validation of data at the HPSC". There has also been a total of 250 deaths reported in the North, bringing to 1,019 the total across Ireland.
As of 1pm Tuesday, April 21, the HPSC had been notified of 631 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 bringing to  16,671 confirmed cases of COVID-19. 
In the breakdown of the latest data from the HPSC, as of midnight, Monday, April 20 (15,871 cases), reveals that a total of 2,387 cases (15%) have been hospitalised and of those hospitalised; 322 cases have been admitted to ICU; 4,393 cases are associated with healthcare workers. Of those for whom transmission status is known: community transmission accounts for 61%, close contact accounts for 35%, travel abroad accounts for 4%. Locally there have been 430 (a jump of 27 on the prvious day) confirmed cases in County Cavan; while in Monaghan the figure stands at 220 (up by 21).
By comparison with other neighbouring counties, the number of confirmed cases in Leitrim are 55; Longford 101; Meath 539; and Westmeath 386.  
As of midnight Tuesday 21st April, the HPSC has been informed of 302 clusters in residential care settings, 179 of which are in nursing homes. Of the 769 deaths in laboratory confirmed cases, 412 are associated with residents of residential care settings, of which 348 are associated with nursing home settings.

Testing
Dr. Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, said: “Testing is a key element to Ireland’s response to COVID-19.
“NPHET has consistently highlighted the importance of testing so that we can track the spread of the disease, reduce and contain its spread.
“As part of understanding the testing landscape, NPEHT requested that HIQA undertake a Health Technology Assessment of alternative diagnostic testing methods for detecting COVID-19.”
Dr Máirín Ryan, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of Health Technology Assessment, HIQA, said; “We have identified a range of diagnostic tests, both in development and already commercialised, that will need to be reviewed as part of a comprehensive quality assurance programme before being adopted as part of a national testing programme.  
“The assessment has confirmed that Ireland’s current test, the real-time RT-PCR, remains the ‘gold standard’ test for detecting and confirming COVID-19 cases.
"HIQA continues to monitor and assess evidence on alternative diagnostic testing methods for COVID-19 and will report to NPHET on an ongoing basis.”