The Kilkenny hotel at the centre of a coronavirus scare has confirmed it only learned that six US guests had tested positive for Covid-19 five days after they checked out.

In a statement released to KilkennyNow.ie this evening, the Hibernian Hotel said it received a “short phone call” from a tour guide last Saturday night informing them that six members of an American student group who stayed in the hotel the previous Monday for one night had subsequently been diagnosed with Covid-19 virus.

The hotel said: “It was the tour guide who informed the hotel of this, not the students or the HSE. Management subsequently followed the advised procedures on contacting staff and other protocols as they felt the risk to employees and the public was too great.”

The Hibernian Hotel confirmed they closed the following day “as soon as guests had checked out”.

The hotel will remain closed until March 30.