A decontamination exercise was carried out at Dublin's Mater Hospital after a patient was brought in with a suspected case of the Chinese coronavirus.
According to the Herald, the woman had a fever and had returned from the Asian country but was assessed and found not to have the new flu-like virus. It has claimed 17 lives while there are more than 500 confirmed cases.
An ambulance was decontaminated by staff as a precaution.
Emergency departments here are on heightened alert and the paper reports that suspected cases are also believed to have presented to St Vincent's Hospital.
Origins
The city of its origin, Wuhan in China, is effectively on lock down with flights, buses and trains suspended.
The World Health Organisation says they have teams on the ground to gather evidence.
Dr Michael Ryan from the body says they will meet again today to decide whether to deem it a global emergency;
"The primary issue is to limit human to human transmission, to reduce secondary infections, especially among close contact and particularly in healthcare environments and obviously prevent further international spread."
