WATCH: HSE making good progress in tracing contacts of latest coronavirus victims

THE chief executive of the Health Service Executive says good progress has been made in tracing those who were in contact with the latest four victims of the coronavirus.

The two males and two females, who are from County Clare and who recently travelled to Northern Italy, are being treated in an isolation unit at University Hospital Limerick.

“All of those cases have been placed in infection control environments and are being treated for in that manner,” said Paul Reid during a media briefing in Dublin this Thursday afternoon.

Mr Reid said the process of tracing the contacts of the four individuals poses a “significant challenge” given the scale involved but that good progress has been made since the diagnoses was confirmed on Wednesday.

A number of schools in County Clare have been closed as a precaution and the Limerick for Engineering showcase which was due to take place at Shannon Airport this Thursday evening has been deferred because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

The HSE says the six confirmed cases of the virus in Ireland are all associated with travel from Northern Italy and that there have no confirmed instances of the virus being spread in the community.

Winter briefing with Covid-19 (#coronavirus) update https://t.co/lyyOE3fr4d

— HSE Ireland (@HSELive) March 5, 2020

While still in the containment phase, Mr Reid said the country is in a "very challenging phase right now in terms of sustaining the containment phase".

He said the current situation is unprecedented and that a major public awareness campaign will be launched shortly and he appealed to members of the public to listen to the advice.

“We need to ensure that there is not a level of panic amongst the public  and, equally, that there is not a level of complacency. Thirdly, we need the public to act to treat this very seriously and to act on all of  the advice that we are giveing,” he stated.

For advice and updates on Covid-19 log onto the HSE Website