The HSE expects to begin rolling out antigen testing to close contacts of someone with Covid 19 from next week.
Close contacts will have to collect the antigen tests from a test centre and then do them at home themselves.
The HSE has only used PCR tests up until now but it only has capacity to do 14,000 a day.
The HSE’s National Lead for Testing and Tracing, Niamh O’Beirne, says testing has soared in the past few weeks.
