Almost 60,000 young people between the age of 5 and 19 have been tested for Covid-19 since schools reopened at the end of August.
According to figures provided by the Health Service Executive to Nuacht RTÉ, 31,138 children in the 5-12 age group were tested between the week ending 30 August and Sunday 27 September.
Of those, 488 - or 1.5% - tested positive.
The second week of September was the busiest in terms of testing, with 14,400 in the week ending 13 September.
Although the number of children tested fell by almost a half in the past two weeks, figures show that 11% more children tested positive for the virus in that same period.
Children aged 5-12
Tests Cases
30 August 2,826 52
06 September 6,355 73
13 September 14,000 90
20 September 12,373 129
27 September 7,527 144
More than 27,000 people have also been tested in the group aged 13-19 since schools reopened at the end of August.
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Of a total of 27,514 tests carried out, 746 - or 2.7% - in this age group tested positive for Covid-19.
The third week of September saw the highest number of tests in this age group, with 8,407 tests conducted.This was almost three times the number of tests carried out in the last week of August when secondary schools reopened.
Of the 8,407 tested, 196 positive cases were identified.
These figures provided by the HSE indicate that the number of positive cases in this age group are on the rise.
The number of cases increased by 26% in the week ending 27 September compared to the previous week, despite a lower number of tests being carried out.
This is in line with trends throughout the community.
Young people aged 13-19
Tests Cases
30 August 2,905 69
06 September 2,947 103
13 September 5,050 131
20 September 8,407 196
27 September 8,215 247
HSE figures also indicate that 21,343 tests were carried out on infants and children of pre-school age in the 0-4 age group since schools reopened in August.
