Dr. Jean-Claude Schmit told Radio 100,7 of his concerns in an interview on Friday morning. For some time now, there have been concerns over the limits to the contact tracing team, and with the rise in new infections, full contact tracing would no longer be feasible.

Dr. Schmit said the team would be capable of contacting people who had tested positive, and would be able to complete a limited trace on clusters of the virus.

However, despite increased staff, the number of new cases meant a full contact tracing project could not take place.

In the interview, the director appealed to those who had tested positive to notify people they had come into contact with and advise them to self-isolate. He said the situation was too urgent to wait to contact the Department of Health.

In terms of a tracing app, discussions were said to be ongoing with neighbouring countries to put together a system.

The average age of people with new infections in this second wave of the virus is around 10 years younger than the average age in the first, according to Dr. Schmit.

163 people tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday, while the government is set to put new laws into place with restrictions on group gatherings.