To ask the Minister of Health whether teams are ready to be deployed for house-to-house testing in the event that contact tracers cannot reach people in contact with those who have tested positive for Variants of Concern.

The Public Health Agency (PHA) has deployed a response plan to deliver effective investigation and management in response to the identification of new variants of concern of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

An Incident Management Team is convened in each instance which will decide on the approach required for investigation and management. This involves consideration of the optimum testing approach including for example deployment of house-to-house-testing and of Mobile Testing Units where required.