<p>A GP based in Lifford in Co Donegal has said that his practice has seen a significant number of people come forward with symptoms of Covid-19 over the last two weeks, with 60% of them in the 20-40 age group.</p><p>Dr Paul Armstrong told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that with movement over the border, contact tracing is challenging as there is no co-ordinated cross-border contact tracing.</p><p>He said many people are contacting their GP seeking advice on symptoms and contacts they may have had.</p><p>He said that while restrictions have been imposed on Donegal, there is movement of people from Donegal, Derry and Tyrone all the time.</p><p><a href="https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0925/1167366-covid-19/" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent;">Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn and his Northern Ireland counterpart Dr Michael McBride are today discussing efforts to reduce travel between Co Donegal and Northern Ireland in light of the high number of cases in the region.</a></p><p>Donegal is to move to Level 3 restrictions from midnight tonight, with the measures in place for three weeks until 16 October.</p><p>The 14-day incidence of the disease in the county rose again yesterday and was at 122.5 confirmed cases per 100,000 people. This is up from 106.2 on Wednesday, the sharpest jump recorded by any county in the country.</p><p>Dr Armstrong said many people who are waiting for test results are not self-isolating and he asked for them to follow the guidelines, to watch their contacts, and to keep their distance from others.</p><p>He said his practice had seen three positive cases emerge two weeks ago and since then a significant number of people who have developed symptoms have come forward.</p><p>Dr Martin Coyne, another GP in Lifford, said he doesn't want a &#34;blame game&#34; over Covid-19 but he believes the recent surge of infections in his area has come from large social gatherings in home settings. </p><p>Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he said from March to September in his practice they had 17 Covid-19 cases while in the last two weeks they have had 54 cases.</p><p>&#34;That was a huge and shocking jump for us.&#34;</p><p>He said when they talked to patients in the initial start of this surge there were a number of large social gatherings in a home setting and he said they seem to be the &#34;culprit&#34; in this. </p><p>He said Level 3 has certain restrictions but they are not going to work unless they are enforced.</p><p>&#34;There have to be penalties for people who choose to ignore the restrictions&#34;.</p><p>He said the social events he has identified where the recent infections are happening are widespread. </p><p>&#34;After a football match, two birthday parties, a communion, there was also sadly a wake. We had just let our guard down. People probably were doing that all over the summer and thinking it was fine. But all it takes is one person to get into a situation like that and all of a sudden we have lots of contacts and the R rate goes crazy.&#34;</p><p>He said while some of the 54 new cases in Lifford who have Covid-19 are unwell, fortunately no one has ended up in hospital.</p><p>He had this warning for those who are not taking the virus seriously. </p><p>&#34;For people out there who don't believe that this applies to them, I would say this. You are going to take it back to your home or someone in your family who is vulnerable and put them into an ICU bed and possibly kill them.&#34;</p><p>He said it is time to change behaviour now and look ahead.</p><p>Regarding the threat of the virus spreading across borders he said there is a tracing issue for people going over and back from Donegal to Derrry and vice-versa, he said: &#34;Lifford and Strabane are practically twin towns. People go to school and work in each county ... you won't be able to block Lifford bridge.&#34;</p><!--EndFragment--><p>https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0925/1167434-donegal-reaction-covid19-coronavirus/</p><p></p><p>Published 25th September by RTE news<br/><br/></p>