A second case of Coronavirus has been confirmed in the Republic of Ireland.
The patient is a woman in the east of the country who recently traveled back from Northern Italy.
Some 397 people have been tested for the virus as of Monday evening – up from 90 this day last week.
The HSE is working to identify what contacts the patient may have had to prevent further spread of the virus.
This case is not associated with the previously identified case.
Department of Health chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan made the announcement just before 9pm on Tuesday evening.
Case is associated with Italian travel
“We’re confirming that Ireland has diagnosed one new case of COVID-19. The case arises in a female in the east of the country and is associated with travel in northern Italy”, said Holohan in a statement to media tonight.
Dr Mary Favier, the president of the Irish College of GPs, says the second Irish case is not surprising.
“Inevitably we were going to get a few (cases)”, she says.
“It depends really if we start to get a number of them or if we start to get them where they haven’t had a travel exposure.”
“As long as they have had a travel exposure, it’s quite reassuring that containment is working. In the meantime, people are to be reminded to wash their hands really well and if they are coughing or sneezing they do that either into a tissue and dispose of it, or into the crook of their elbow if they can’t get a tissue quickly enough.”
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