Department of Health: Everyone in close contact with Irish coronavirus patient notified

Everyone who has been in close contact with a woman diagnosed with novel coronavirus has been notified, the Department of Health has confirmed.

The woman who travelled through Dublin Airport on her way home from Northern Italy is in isolation in Northern Ireland and receiving treatment.

A small number of people who would have been close contact with the individual would have been given the appropriate advice, the department has confirmed.

The department's chief medical officer, Dr Tony Holohan, said confirmation of the first case of Covid-19 on the island of Ireland did not change plans already in place.

All of the “extensive preparedness plans” during this period of containment were focused on picking up a case.

“Ultimately, it depends on an individual with symptoms travelling back from an affected area identifying themselves and contacting the local health authorities,” he said.

That was exactly what happened in this particular case and it showed that the message was getting through, he told a media briefing.

Simon Harris pictured arriving at the Department of Health today. Photo:Gareth Chaney/Collins

Director of the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre, Dr John Cuddity, said contact tracing was a routine part of public doctors' work in relation to infectious diseases.

“In this particular case all stages of the journey have been identified and the contact tracing has been completed,” he said.

“If someone hasn't been contacted there is no need for them to be concerned.”

Dr Cuddihy said that in this situation they followed guidelines from the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

Passengers on the plan are informed and they are given appropriate information, depending on whether they are close contacts or casual contacts.

Dr Holohan said close contact involved either face to face contact or spending more than 15 minutes within two metres of an infected person.

He said the risk of transmission through casual contact was low.

Meanwhile, Chinese authorities have reported another sharp decrease in the number of Covid-19 infections.

Mainland China reported 327 new cases and 44 deaths in the 24 hours to Friday morning, according to the country's national health commission.

The update brings China's total number of cases to 78,824 and deaths to 2,788, while more than 3,600 infections have been reported outside the country.

The global count of those sickened by the virus hovered around 82,000.