Report of the COVID-19 Rapid Testing Group

The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly TD has published the Report of the COVID-19 Rapid Testing Group. The report recommends the introduction of rapid tests, such as lateral flow antigen tests (LFAT) and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) tests, to complement existing national polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing programmes.

This was a majority report.

Chair

Professor Mark Ferguson, Director General, Science Foundation Ireland and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government of Ireland

Members

• Professor Paddy Mallon, Professor of Microbial Diseases UCD, Consultant in Infectious Diseases, St Vincent’s University Hospital and Director of the UCD Centre for Experimental Pathogen Host Research
• Professor Mary Horgan, President of Royal College of Physicians in Ireland, Professor, School of Medicine, UCC. Consultant in Infectious Diseases, Cork University Hospital
• Professor Kingston Mills, Professor of Experimental Immunology, Trinity College Dublin and Director Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute
• Dr Lorraine Doherty, National Clinical Director Health Protection, Health Service Executive*
• Dr Darina O’Flanagan, Former Director of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre; Special adviser to NPHET at Department of Health*
• Indicates member does not support report