A Waterford GP says the increase in Coronavirus cases locally is not alarming.
12 cases were confirmed for Waterford yesterday, the largest increase in a day since April.
However, there were no cases announced for Waterford on Wednesday and just two on Tuesday.
Austin Byrne says there's been a surge in the number of COVID tests being carried out in recent weeks
"We're coming off such a low base - going from very little to 12, in terms of absolute numbers, is still very low."
Dr Byrne added that they are "12 protected cases coming off the back of a surge, a huge quantity of screening so, it's not surprising that we go from single ones and twos to larger numbers in early double digits because of the sheer volume [of testing]".
"Those 12 cases may not reflect a single day and likely doesn't, it's probably additive across a couple of days because with that surge [in testing] we did have a slight lag in results coming back," he added.
Dr Byrne said that 12 can very quickly become 24 and 24 become 48.
The number of calls from parents has also increased since schools reopened.
Dr Byrne is encouraging parents to contact them if they have any concern about their child.
"With children, the message is first and foremost safety - [if your child has] significant fever, significant symptoms, if you're concerned about the child - contact your GP. That's regardless of the whole Covid-19 thing.
"A sick child with a fever who is unwell in any regard or a child who has got viral symptoms, who attends school usually, the GP contact, in that case, is to decide about the need for COVID screening and it's a safety net in case of any decline in illness symptoms."
