An Irish couple on board a cruise ship with over 450 passengers infected with the coronavirus will know on Friday if they have the deadly disease.
The couple, believed to be from Co Meath, are currently trapped in Japan on the Diamond Princess and were yesterday tested for Covid-19.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is considering evacuating the Irish citizens on board the stricken liner.
So far the highly contagious virus, which originated in Wuhan, China, has killed more than 1,700 people and infected 71,000.
A spokeswoman for the Department said: “We are liaising with other like-minded countries regarding the consular needs of citizens.”
It comes after the US began airlifting 300 of its citizens from the vessel. Australia has followed suit while the UK wants ton repatriate 74 British passengers on the ship.
The Irish couple are among over 2,500 passengers and hundreds of crew who have been marooned off Yokohama for the past two weeks.
It’s understood the couple were holidaying in the region and were due to fly home earlier this month.
They do not know yet if they will have to spend another 14 days in quarantine if flown back to Ireland. But both have no symptoms.
It’s believed a man from Hong Kong spread the flu-like virus around the same time as the couple boarded the ship.
People on board have been provided with free wifi and board games while the Irish woman has begun to teach herself Origami. Tourists have also been provided with thermometers to regularly check their temperatures.
The HSE has said there has been no confirmed case of coronavirus in the country to date after reports a woman suspected of having the virus presented herself at St Vincent’s hospital on Sunday.
A spokeswoman said: “The HSE and Department of Health are not providing information about individual activations of preparedness plans or about individual cases of Covid-19 other than confirmed cases.
And the Director General of the World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus yesterday warned it was “impossible to predict which direction this epidemic will take.”
