The tests will form part of a study of healthcare workers in two large acute hospitals.
The Precise (Prevalence of Covid-19 Antibodies in Irish Healthcare Workers) study will look at rates of previous Covid-19 infections in healthcare workers in St James’s Hospital in Dublin and University Hospital Galway.
Over the next two weeks, staff in both hospitals will be invited to have a blood test to determine the presence of Covid-19 antibodies.
It will help the health services to broadly estimate the number of healthcare workers that may have some degree of immunity to Covid-19
The study will be repeated in six months and the data compared. Participation is voluntary and open to all staff across all departments in both hospitals.
Dr Lorraine Doherty, HSE national clinical director for Health Protection, said: “The Precise study aims to calculate the prevalence of anti-Sars-CoV-2 IgG antibodies, or Covid-19 antibodies in healthcare workers in two hospitals in two distinct areas of the country.
“It will help the health service better understand this new infection, including the risk factors relevant to healthcare workers, for example the areas they work in and the type of patient exposure they have, as well as factors such as their sex, age and living arrangements.
“It will help the health services to broadly estimate the number of healthcare workers that may have some degree of immunity to Covid-19 infection and those that are still at risk of contracting the virus.”
Asymptomatic
Dr Doherty said it will identify staff who have antibodies present, but were asymptomatic and not unaware of their exposure to the virus.
Health officials said the information from this study will help the health services prepare for increasing number of cases.
Dr Catherine Fleming, consultant in Infectious Diseases at University Hospital Galway and site lead for the Precise study, added: “This is a new and very infectious virus that seems to spread rapidly indoors when people are in close contact.
“Hospitals are unique environments with all employees having lives outside the hospital, but also spending long hours at work in close contact with patients, families and co-workers.
“This puts people who work in hospitals at increased risk of acquiring Covid-19.
“If we can ascertain the number of infections here in University Hospital Galway, which is in a low incidence area and determine the areas of risk and then compare with St James’s in a high incidence area, we can learn about how the virus spreads in hospitals.”
The blood tests for the study will take place from October 14th to 23rd.
