By Digital Desk

Update: An international health expert has called on the government to adopt a multi-agency approach to the coronavirus and to immediately scale up the number of people who can carry out “contact tracing.”

In public health, contact tracing is the process of identification of persons who may have come into contact with an infected person and the subsequent collection of further information about these contacts.

Sam McConkey, Associate Professor and Head of the Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine at the RCSI, told Newstalk Breakfast that the Chinese response to the virus had been very pragmatic with thousands of staff deployed in Wuhan to work on tracing the contacts of anyone who contracted the virus.

The Irish response to date in terms of testing and contact tracing had been excellent, he said because structures were already in place for dealing with tuberculosis and meningitis. “We already have people in place who are good at this.

“The question is can the government start allocating money to scale up contact tracing and treating people.

We are likely to see more cases, it could be dozens or hundreds, we need to be making plans.

In China intense contact tracing had worked, he said. “We have to be pragmatic, thorough.”

Prof. McConkey said that in China the equivalent of county councillors, sporting bodies and religious organisations were involved in combating the spread of the virus and that may need to be the case in Ireland.

He also urged the public to take advice only from credible news sources and to adopt a ‘Doubting Thomas’ approach to reports on social media.

"Show me the empirical evidence, the facts of the case. We all need to see the evidence.”

Twitter tells staff across world to work from home in effort to stop coronavirus spread

Twitter has become the latest tech giant to tell staff members around the world to work from home if they can, to try to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Employees in Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea have no choice but to work remotely, because of government restrictions.

The social media giant says offices are being deep cleaned for those who do need to go in, and staff are being reminded of personal hygiene practices.

"We are strongly encouraging all employees globally to work from home if they're able," Twitter human resources chief Jennifer Christie said in a blog post.

"Our goal is to lower the probability of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus for us - and the world around us."

Elsewhere, Dr Lindsay Broadbent from Queens University Belfast has said two-thirds of people in the world could eventually develop the Covid-19 coronavirus.

However, she said, for most people, the virus will be quite mild.

“In Ireland we are probably quite lucky that a large proportion of the population live in quite rural communities,” she said.

“They might have added protection from this virus because they won’t be in very busy areas.”

She said about 80% of people who do contract the illness will have a “very mild illness and will not require any hospitalisation at all.”

She said people over the age of 70 and 80 and more vulnerable to severe disease.

The HSE is urging anyone who has been to one of seven coronavirus-affected areas in the past two weeks and is experiencing symptoms of the virus to phone their local GP or Emergency Department without delay.

If you are felling well, you are advised to carry on with your normal routine.

People are urged to contact the HSE on 1850 24 1850 if they think they have been in contact with a coronavirus patient or at a healthcare facility in another country where coronavirus patients are being treated.

Virus fear hits 8,000 Google staff in Dublin

By Conall Ó Fátharta, Eamon Quinn, and Daniel McConnell

The majority of Google’s 8,000 staff in Dublin have been told to work from home today after a staff member reported flu-like symptoms.

The employee is not a confirmed case of Covid-19, but a source told the Irish Examiner that, “out of an abundance of caution”, staff who were in close contact with the individual in question have been told to work from home and to monitor their health until there is greater clarity on whether or not they are at risk.

The Google office in Dublin

The decision will result in the majority of the multinational’s 8,000 Dublin-based staff working from home. Google’s offices in Sandyford, Eastpoint, and its data centres are not affected.

The company is also using the work-from-home day to test its operational readiness and its ability to perform at full capacity in case of an extended period.

It is understood this is not the first Google office that has closed for a day or more and the company has been doing this across its hubs to prioritise worker safety.

“We continue to take precautionary measures to protect the health and safety of our workforce, and as part of that effort we have asked our Dublin teams to work from home tomorrow,” said a Google spokesperson.

Meanwhile, the OECD has told world leaders they can not sit back and let the coronavirus ravage their economies, warning that the world is in “

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Tocumen International Airport, Panama, Panama. Photographer Cesar Rodriguez/Bloomberg.

In a further sign not seen since the 2008 banking collapse, the IMF and the World Bank issued a joint statement saying they stood ready to help the world’s poorest nations, as the “human tragedy and economic challenge” of the virus take hold.

In an unusually strong rebuke, the Paris-based OECD, which brings together the world’s richest economies, including Ireland’s, warned that an already “fragile” world economy was at risk if its worst fears are realised.

Governments of the big economies “cannot afford to wait” and should be planning to support their healthcare systems and their most vulnerable industries.

“The virus is bringing considerable human pain. It is also resulting in significant economic disruption from quarantines, restrictions on travel, factory closures and a sharp decline in many service sector activities,” said OECD chief economist Laurence Boone.

If its fears materialise, the OECD warned “co-ordinated policy actions across all the major economies would be needed to ensure effective healthcare provision around the world and provide the most effective stimulus to the global economy”.

“Regardless of where the virus spreads, the world economy, previously weakened by persistent trade and political tensions, has already suffered a sharp setback,” said the OECD.

At the daily briefing of the National Public Health Emergency Team in Dublin, the State’s chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan said guidelines were being prepared in relation to mass gatherings that will be issued to relevant organisations. However, he stressed that “we are not at a phase, at this moment in time, where we think there is any indication to cancel mass gatherings”.

He said Ireland remains in a containment phase, with one confirmed case currently in isolation and that contact tracing is underway in relation to the case.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris will seek Cabinet approval today to establish a special committee to examine the full impact of the Coronavirus on the economy and society.

Mr Harris will also confirm the establishment of a stakeholder event to brief trade unions, employer bodies, voluntary leaders, and a variety of sectors.

A teenager remains under treatment in a Dublin hospital and his school, Scoil Chatriona in Glasnevin, will be closed for 14 days as a result of the diagnosis.