Kingston Mills, professor of experimental immunology at Trinity College Dublin and emergency medicine consultant Dr Chris Luke both said the HSE has the correct measures in place.

The likelihood of a case of the new coronavirus emerging in Ireland is “quite low”, the director of the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre has said.

Dr John Cuddihy said Ireland had no direct flights to Wuhan in China where the outbreak is thought to have originated.

A Chinese city plans to fine mothers who have a child out of wedlock, sparking criticism that the policy is discriminatory and could lead to an increase in abandoned babies.