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Minister for Health signs regulations to make Covid-19 a Notifiable Disease
Today, (Thursday 20 February 2020), Minister for Health, Simon Harris TD signed the 'Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Regulations 2020' to include Covid-19 on the existing list of notifiable diseases. This will oblige doctors to routinely notify the HSE when a case of Covid-19 is diagnosed.
Minister for Health Simon Harris TD said:
Ireland is well positioned to detect and respond to a case of the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) that might arise here. This measure, to include Covid-19 on the list of notifiable diseases, is common practice when dealing with a newly emerging infectious disease. This was also done for the SARS epidemic in 2002.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tony Holohan said:
Ireland's public health response to Covid-19 remains unchanged. We are in a containment phase. Anyone returning from China in the last 14 days, and experiencing symptoms associated with Covid-19 (Coronavirus), is instructed to self- isolate and contact the health service via phone or email.