Almost 100 school outbreaks of Covid-19 reported over past week

Ninety new outbreaks of Covid-19 have been reported in schools over the past week. 

That's according to the newest report from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC), which found that the majority of the outbreaks were in primary schools with 78 outbreaks. Eleven incidents were reported in post-primary schools and one in a special education school. 

It's the main location for outbreaks since September 13th, ahead of private houses and travel related outbreaks. It marks a leap of almost 50% compared to the week prior. 

A total of four hundred and twelve confirmed cases have been linked with the school outbreaks. Details on the schools affected have not been released by the HPSC. 

Masks for under-13s was ruled out in the latest guidelines, however this is set to be reviewed again in six to eight weeks time. 

Thirteen Covid-19 outbreaks have also been reported in workplaces during the same time period, with 37 confirmed linked cases. 

Three of these have taken place in the construction sector, one in food production and processing, and eight in "other workplace types". This includes defence, justice, emergency services, health and dental, manufacturing and commercial.