People who test negative for coronavirus should still isolate for two weeks, says Irish GP

Exclusive: Dr Illona Duffy was out of work for three weeks battling the disease which she described as 'a scary time'

A GP said people who test negative for Covid-19 should still isolate for 14 days in case they have received a false result.

Dr Illona Duffy, who is based in Co Monaghan, was out of work for three weeks battling the disease which she described as “a scary time”.

She also believes good hand hygiene and wearing face masks while out in public will help minimise the risk of a second wave.

The medic told the Irish Mirror: “Even if people get a negative test result back from their Covid-19 swab, they should still be isolating for two weeks because of the possibility of false negatives.

“That message can be hard for people to swallow because not everyone that gets Covid-19 feels rotten and people can have very mild symptoms. And we’re seeing that now in the increase of group testing in areas like meat factories and people really couldn’t believe they had it because they either had no symptoms or their symptoms were so mild.

“Anyone who has symptoms should be at home and their employers should know this and their close contacts should be at home as well.”