People travelling to Italy 'should remain abreast' of coronavirus situation

Ireland and other EU countries have been told to be on alert for possible cases of the coronavirus.

Update 9.05am: The Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, Dr Tony Holohan is advising anyone contemplating travel to Italy to keep up to date on developments as the European Centre for Disease Control (ECDC) convenes an emergency meeting this afternoon.

His advice follows news of four deaths in Italy and the first major travel restrictions to be imposed in Europe which has seen more than 50,000 people in a number of towns in the Veneto and Lombardy regions of northern Italy quarantined.