A team of health experts is to check the safety of St Patrick’s Day parades around Ireland follwing the coronavirus outbreak.
The risk assessment will be carried out by top specialists from the government’s National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET).
Millions from home - plus visitors from abroad - are planning to celebrate our national saint on March 17 with parades from Cork to Donegal.
At least 500,000 are expected for the largest in Dublin as part of the capital’s five-day festival.
The first confirmed case of coronavirus in Ireland reportedly arrived through Dublin Airport.
The patient has been placed in isolation at Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital.
The news was confirmed during a briefing by Northern Ireland's Public Health Agency last night.
The agency said the patient had been to northern Italy and then travelled home to Northern Ireland from the Republic.
Now the NPHET is drawing up a list of criteria to examine and will assess what risks holding the parades might pose. The list will be ready next week.
Festival organisers in Dublin said: “St Patrick’s Festival will take a measured and proportionate response to the public health threat of Covid-19, in line with the guidance and recommendations of the HSE and the NPHET.”
The team behind the Dublin festival - with events in Dublin planned for March 13-17 - said there was an “urgent need” for the risk assessment.
The results will determine what action is to be taken in relation to the staging of events.
Parade organisers said they remain firmly committed to ensuring the wellbeing and safety of the public.
A spokesperson said: “We have underscored the very urgent need for this documentation to be made available to the festival, so that an informed and prompt decision can be made regarding our forthcoming events.
“We have clarified to the relevant authorities our readiness to respond in whatever way is required of us in the best interests of public safety.”
Apart from Dublin, hundreds more events are planned for every town and village across the country.
Chief Executive of Tourism Ireland Niall Gibbons said the industry is going through short-term difficulties as a result of the outbreak - but it is important to stay calm.
He told RTE News that the industry dealt with serious events before - like the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001 and the 9/11 terror attacks in the US.
Meanwhile, health specialist Dr Sarah Doyle said the situation was changing rapidly and public health advice was likely to change too.
At the time of the HSE briefing there were no confirmed cases of coronavirus.
Around 2,000 people have contacted a HSE helpline in the past week over the virus with 300 callers referred to public health doctors.
HSE Chief Executive Paul Reid said Ireland was still in the containment phase - and prevention was uppermost right now.
The HSE has acted early and bought 700,000 gowns, four million gloves, 1.5 million surgical masks and 13,500 personal protective equipment packs for GPs, out of hours services and health clinics.
A professor of microbiology at Trinity College Dublin said it is inevitable that the virus will arrive here.
Dr Kim Roberts said there is no need to panic but preparations should be made.
Those returning from virus-hit areas with symptoms like fever, cough or breathing difficulties must phone their GP or local A&E immediately - but not go there.
The HSE said they should avoid contact with the public by self-isolating at home.
The affected areas are China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Iran and Japan, as well as the Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna and Piedmont regions of Italy.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has asked anyone who may have been in contact with a person who has COVID-19, or who has been to the outbreak areas, to contact HSE Live on 1850 24 1850.
Anyone worried about Irish citizens in virus hot zones should contact the department on 01 613 1733.
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