First case of Coronavirus confirmed in Ireland

The Coronavirus has reached Irish soil; meanwhile the Celt understands that test results on a Westmeath teenager were negative.

The BBC is reporting that at least one case of coronavirus has been diagnosed in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland’s Public Health Agency (PHA) is holding a media briefing in Belfast to give an update on the situation.

The patient is believed to be in an isolation unit in Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital. They are said to have travelled from northern Italy via Dublin.

The news follows reports that a Westmeath teenager, a student at Castlepollard Community College, was tested for COVID-19.

The student had been on a school ski trip in northern Italy. The individual was tested last night after displaying some symptoms of the infection.

The Celt understands that the test results were negative for COVID-19. This has not yet been confirmed by official sources but parents have said they received a text alert from the school notifying them that the test results were negative.

Earlier today, the Celt followed up on reports that a patient or patients had presented at Cavan General Hospital displaying symptoms of the virus.

Following a query to the Department of Health on the unconfirmed reports, the Department issued the following statement to The Anglo-Celt:

'It is the Department's policy never to comment on individual cases or indeed individual acts of preparedness, unless we are confirming a case. We currently have no confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland. Testing is ongoing as a matter of routine in line with our published protocols for the Covid-19 outbreak, and yesterday our NPHET published the number of people who have been tested to date in Ireland, which is 90.'

It's understood that the Health Services Executive (HSE) has purchased 1.7M masks for staff and GP offices in preparation for any outbreak of the virus here

The virus has already killed more than 2,760 people, mostly in China - where it first emerged in December - and infected more than 81,000 in over 45 countries.

The World Health Organization has declared that the new coronavirus epidemic is at a "decisive point" as countries across the globe battled to contain the deadly outbreak.

"We're at a decisive point," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a press conference in Geneva. "If you act aggressively now, you can contain this virus, you can prevent people getting sick, you can save lives."

More details on the coronavirus are available HERE