Passengers flying from Russia to Dublin were left terrified after a man was removed from a flight with a suspected case of coronavirus.

Travellers were instructed to stay in their seats for two hours after landing at Dublin airport while a man with "flu-like symptoms" was taken away.

People wearing hazmat suits boarded the plane and escorted to isolation, before passengers were given leaflets saying the flight contained someone "with a possible case of novel coronavirus".

They were advised to limit contact with other people once they got home, and stay indoors.

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

Laura said: "We were not told that anything was wrong during the flight… at no point did we realise something sinister was also evolving on board.

"When we landed, passengers stood up to get their cabin baggage 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 síochána (Irish police force) on the tarmac.

"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."

Laura 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.

Laura said: "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.

"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.

"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).

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

There are currently no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Ireland.