As October draws to a close today, and Ireland tentatively turning a corner, I would like to highlight the monumental work that went into trying to turn that tide.

From Medical Scientists to GP's to Public Health teams to our Doctors and Nurses, there was serious work done.

Ireland completed 439,499 tests in October.

The logistics of that effort are Herculean.

Pre-analytics alone, you've got GP's, swabbers, ambulance crews, couriers just to get the tests to the labs, where Medical Scientists get through an enormous daily workload.

You've got hardworking Public Health teams taking up the baton to trace challenging outbreaks, inform close contacts and try isolate people, so they break chains of transmission.

That's thousands of good people involved in that entire process, working long stressful hours.

439,499 tests put Ireland 3rd best in EU for October, countries > 1 million pop.

Tests per million, October:

Denmark: 229,923
Belgium: 138,921
Ireland: 88,463
Lithuania: 87,287
Finland: 85,438
Spain: 84,808
Czech Republic: 82,010
Portugal: 79,423
France: 76,445
Germany: 74,353

What's most impressive about that effort, is Ireland are 18th highest on infection levels for October yet 3rd highest tested.

You would expect a country to ramp up testing as infection spreads but we ramped it up at much lower levels of infection.

We got ahead of the virus.

Of course, as Mike Ryan now-famously said, "perfection is the enemy of the good in emergency response, speed trumps perfection".

Like other countries, we had challenges on tracing and on testing, with the NVRL not available for a few days.

None of it was perfect. It was fast.

The hours put in by everyone involved in that effort can feel thankless.

Public Health teams worn out by complex outbreaks, Medical Scientists at the end of their tether with the incessant workload, nurses run-down from long days.

I am grateful to you all.

731 people were admitted to hospital in October, with 346 of them being over the age of 65.

56 sadly died, RIP.

675 are still alive today, some remain in hospital battling on, many were discharged.

That's 675 alive due to tremendous expertise in our hospitals.

I've seen interviews of nurses and doctors all over Europe visibly emotional at the workload they are facing and the amount of death.

There was a time people clapped for them but that went away, on the basis it is completely cringe and achieves nothing.

True, I guess.

But irrelevant.

It can't achieve extra staff or a deserved pay rise by writing "thank you" on Twitter but saying thank you and letting them know they are just as appreciated today is better than saying nothing.

Thank you for keeping so many people alive in October.

Ireland has the 7th lowest death rate in the EU for October in populations over 1 million, behind Finland, Estonia Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Latvia.

That's in large part due to everyone I named above from GP's to Medical Scientists to Doctors and Nurses.

We head into November with a declining positivity rate, a declining 14-day incidence, a slowing of hospital admissions.

We head into this challenging winter with one of the lower infection and death rates in Europe.

It could have been badly different if not for these people.

If we didn't test so highly, who knows how many cases would have been missed.

If we didn't have such hard working people in labs and hospitals, who knows how many more would have died.

We are still in a precarious position but it is stable thanks to them.

And thanks to you.

The average number of close contacts has fallen. People are wearing masks, they are conscientious of others.

The collective effort of Irish society in October underpinned recent improvement, and that is what it will take to hold Covid at bay.

Keep it going.