Four new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the Republic of Ireland.
Two males and two females in the west of Ireland have been affected by the virus, the Department of Health has said.
The patients had all travelled from the same area of Northern Italy – the centre of the European coronavirus outbreak.
The patients are being treated in an isolation unit in a hospital in the west of the country.
Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer with the Department of Health, said: “Tonight we can confirm there are now six cases of Covid-19 in Ireland. Contact tracing is underway for these four new cases.”
Dr Holohan did not confirm whether or not the four people are part of a family.
This brings the total number of COVID-19 diagnoses in the Republic to six. There are three cases in Northern Ireland. One of the new ‘presumptive positive’ cases has been traced to a person at Queen’s University in Belfast. The university remains open as normal, while management is working with the Public Health Agency to trace anyone who has been in contact with the infected individual.
