Results are expected later today on a patient who is being tested for coronavirus in Belfast.
The man is undergoing tests at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Belfast as a precaution.
It is believed he recently returned from an area near the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak originated.
Meanwhile, there are 14 people undergoing checks in Britain. Public Health England said five tested negative and nine are still waiting for results.
The HSE is advising anyone who has travelled near the city of Wuhan in China over the past few weeks and develops cold-like symptoms to call their GP.
Anyone with concerns is warned not to present at the Emergency Department without first seeing their doctor.
File photo of a lab technician equipping a centrifuge at the Institute of Virology in Berlin where investigations on coronavirus are underway, 23-01-2020.Officials in China have said the death toll from the outbreak has now reached 26 with the number of confirmed cases at 830.
The epicentre of the outbreak is believed to have been a food market in the city of Wuhan in China’s Hubei province. The WHO has said it is likely to have come from an animal.
Beijing has suspended public transport services in ten cities in the province – with public venues ordered to close in some areas. The lock-down is affecting 25 million people.
Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (C) speaks at a press conference after a closed-door meeting of the Emergency Committee at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, 23-01-2020. Image: Xinhua/Liu QuYesterday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the outbreak an emergency but said it was "too early" to declare it a “public health emergency of international concern.”
The virus has spread to Beijing and Shanghai, as well as the US, Thailand, South Korea and Japan.
Four cases have been found in Thailand, two in Hong Kong and the autonomous region of Macau, and one each in the US, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Singapore.
Coronaviruses are known to cause illnesses ranging from the common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Officials have warned that this new viral infection is “mutating and adapting” and can be passed from person to person.
Chinese officials have confirmed that this latest strain is a ‘novel coronavirus’ and is different from other outbreaks. It does not respond to antibiotics.
The symptoms include fever, coughing and difficulty breathing. Most of the people who have died so far were over the age of 60.
