A passenger who flew from Russia to Ireland has revealed her horror after officials in hazmat suits removed a suspected coronavirus victim from her plane.

Travellers were ordered to stay in their seats for two hours after their Aeroflot flight landed at Dublin airport at around 9pm last night while a man with 'flu-like symptoms' was taken away.

Authorities wearing protective gear boarded the plane and escorted the passenger to isolation.

Passengers were given leaflets saying the flight contained someone 'with a possible case of novel coronavirus' and were advised to limit contact with other people once they got home, and stay indoors. Ireland has had no confirmed cases of coronavirus as of Sunday afternoon.

Laura Noonan, 36, has been visiting Moscow every three to four months since January 2018 for haematology treatment for her rare blood disorder.

The GP and mother-of-one was returning home to Dublin with her husband Archie O'Connor, 39, when they realised a nearby passenger was unwell.

Mrs Noonan wear a face mask due to her condition and its effect on her immune system - and her husband put on a face mask before the flight as a precaution.

Laura Noonan, 36, has been visiting Moscow every three to four months since January 2018 for haematology treatment for her rare blood disorder. She wears a mask due to immune system difficulties when she travels

Mrs Noonan revealed how a official in a hazmat suit boarded the plane and escorted a Chinese passenger to an ambulance

Mrs Noonan said: 'We were not told that anything was wrong during the flight.

'We moved about the cabin and used the bathrooms as you usually would.

'Air stewardesses were very pleasant and enquired as to my wellbeing - at no point did we realise something sinister was also evolving on board.

'When we landed, passengers stood up to got their cabin baggage get ready to leave the plane but the captain then came on speaker and ordered all passengers to sit down, which they did.

'Shortly after a man boarded wearing a hazmat suit and gloves and walked down the plane, took a Chinese passenger from his seat and walked him back up the entire plane and exited at the front meaning the man passed lots of passengers during his retrieval.

'I could see ambulances, airport police and members of the garda siochana [Irish police] on the tarmac.

'The man was quickly taken into the ambulance but it remained on the airport tarmac for a very long time.

'We had still been left in the dark completely but obviously I suspected what the likely problem might be.

Leaflets handed out to passengers stated: 'You have been on a flight from Moscow today with a possible case of novel coronavirus'

Archie O'Connor and Laura Noonan are pictured on the flight back from Moscow to Dublin

'A while later we were told that there was a possible case of coronavirus being brought to hospital from our flight and we were given a leaflet about what to do.'

The leaflets handed out stated: 'You have been on a flight from Moscow today with a possible case of novel coronavirus.'

The document advised passengers to avoid contact with other people as much as possible, to stay home and phone 999 if they began to feel unwell.

Mrs Noonan and her fellow passengers were told to stay on the flight and write down their seat numbers and personal contact information on forms provided by public health doctors.

She said: 'It was almost two hours after we landed before we left the aircraft and made our way through passport control to baggage reclaim.

'Nobody who dealt with us in Dublin was wearing any personal protective equipment or even gloves when handling our passports.

'I was really unwell anyway and we had taken an earlier flight home from Moscow than originally planned as my treatment wasn't going to plan and I felt I would be happier back in Ireland with my family around me.

Archie O'Connor, 39, on the flight back from Moscow. He put on a mask before the flight. His wife Mrs Noonan said: 'Nobody who dealt with us in Dublin was wearing any personal protective equipment or even gloves when handling our passports'

Laura Noonan pictured with her husband Archie O'Connor. Mrs Noonan said: 'I was so weak and traumatised by the incident and all the extra time on the plane that we just drove straight home and we haven't left the house since'

'I was so weak and traumatised by the incident and all the extra time on the plane that we just drove straight home and we haven't left the house since.

'I have been literally to hell and back - just before Christmas I was hospitalised with sepsis and was in ICU in a critical condition in Ireland before going to Moscow for treatment.

'We are in a quasi unenforceable ''isolation'' at home until we get confirmation as to the diagnosis of the Chinese man taken off our flight after we landed in Dublin last night.

'We have a daughter called Freya who we haven't seen since leaving for Moscow who is with her grandmother and we are leaving her there until this is clearer.'

A statement last night from the National Public Health Emergency Team read: 'Ireland has advanced plans in place as part of its comprehensive preparedness to deal with public health emergencies such as novel Coronavirus (2019 nCoV).

'These plans have helped us to respond to previous incidents such as pandemic influenza, SARS and MERS.

An ambulance on the ground after the plane landed in Dublin. A statement from the National Public Health Emergency Team read: 'Ireland has advanced plans in place as part of its comprehensive preparedness to deal with public health emergencies such as novel Coronavirus'

'The aim of these plans in Ireland at this point in the response to novel Coronavirus is one of containment.

'This seeks to maximise the chance of a case being detected should one arise here and to prevent it being transmitted to another person.

'The activation of protocols that achieve this is a core and expected feature of our preparedness and ongoing response.

'The protocol always ensures that the people involved are fully communicated with and are aware of what is going on.

'Their activation is an indication of the quality and responsiveness of the agencies and the staff who carry them out in the health services, the emergency service and at the ports of entry into Ireland.

'No information will be provided about individual activations of these plans or about individual cases of novel Coronavirus (2019-ncCoV) other than confirmed cases.

'As of 1 February 2020, there are no confirmed cases in Ireland.'