Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer during a media update at the Department of Health on the confirmed case of Covid-19 (Coronavirus) in Ireland. Photo: Gareth Chaney/Collins

Ireland’s second case of coronavirus has been confirmed in a woman in the east of the country.

It is understood she returned from northern Italy in recent days – but is not believed to have been in contact with a Dublin student who is currently being treated in hospital.

Officials have tonight applied a travel ban to the four regions in Italy where the virus has been spreading rapidly in recent days.

Up to yesterday some 397 people were tested for the Covid-19 in Ireland – but just one tested positive.

Tests carried out today confirmed the second case. Efforts are now underway to trace anybody who has been in contact with the woman.

She is receiving the appropriate medical treatment from the HSE.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical officer at the Department of Health, said that the place where the confirmed case was must be disinfected.

He added that the upcoming St Patrick's Day parade will go ahead for the time being.

A male student was the first confirmed patient being treated for coronavirus in the Republic and is currently in isolation.

The patient also returned from an affected region in northern Italy.

In the following days, the Department of Health said that a school in Dublin was to temporarily close for two weeks after coming into contact with the patient.

A primary school and pre-school adjacent to the closed school remain open however.

In a letter to school principals following the decision to close the Dublin school for two weeks he said the decision was made on public health grounds.

Dr Holohan did, however, in another letter this evening to parents of school and pre-school children, reassure parents, siblings and other members of community of the secondary school closed by coronavirus that they should "continue their daily routine as normal".

Read More

And earlier today, it emerged that those who attended a band practice at the weekend were asked by the HSE to self-isolate until Sunday, March 15.

It is understood that the male student attended the band practice before being diagnosed with Covid-19, and the HSE has issued the letter to the people who attended the same practice to prevent the possible spread of infection.

Earlier today, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said there is a moderate to high risk of more cases emerging and that the government is pursuing a policy of containment. "There will be no panic but there will also be no complacency," he said.

He said there was no requirement for emergency legislation at this stage but that this would be kept under review.

This evening it was confirmed that the St Patrick’s Day festival will be allowed to go ahead unless there is a more rapid spread of the coronavirus. .

Officials are not yet minded to cancel the celebrations, including parades all over the country.

More than 500,000 people are expected for the main event in Dublin city centre – but health authorities believe it can go ahead.

Ireland’s Six Nations rugby match against Italy this weekend has been postponed even though the Aviva Stadium has a capacity of just 50,000.

Sources said the enclosed nature of the grounds and the fact upwards of 2,500 people attending will have come from Italy meant it had to be called out.

The country’s chief medical officer Tony Holohan said that "as things appear at the moment" St Patrick’s Day can go ahead as planned on March 17.

He noted that the parade was an open air event that was not confined to a small space.

"Just to make clear to you - the mass gatherings advice - we're publishing that advice and guidance specific to the current state we're in. It's a containment phase at the minute.

"We'll continue to evaluate that as things go and our advice in relation to mass gatherings may well change depending on the status of the infection and as part of our response to that and will be guided by international advice in relation to that.

"As things now stand we see no reason why that wouldn't take place," he said.

Meanwhile, Google has told the majority of its 8,000 workers to stay at home for a second day.

The company is still waiting on results for the worker who has reported flu-like symptoms.

The move affects the web giant’s massive Barrow Street and Dublin 4 offices, but not its data centres, Eastpoint or Sandyford facilities.

It comes after Twitter told over 200 workers in its Dublin offices to work at home if they could.

More to follow...

Online Editors