Another suspected case of the SARS virus has been confirmed in Dublin this evening. The Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) says it has been notified of the case involving a non-national, who recently traveled here from Asia.
A Dublin hospital is understood to have admitted a woman suffering symptoms of the disease on Friday evening.
The respiratory virus has claimed 225 lives worldwide and infected more than 4,000.
A spokeswoman from the Department of Health told ireland.comthe case was being "monitored, investigated and treated in accordance with best practice guidelines".
The woman is understood to be from China and her symptoms are understood to have improved since the weekend.
The development came as a group of health experts, specially appointed by the Government to draft a strategy for dealing with the spread of the illness when the Special Olympics are staged in Ireland this summer, looked unlikely to make any recommendations before next month.
After their meeting, the experts' group, who also spoke to a representative of the Chinese embassy in Dublin, said they would be keeping in touch with the Olympics organisers.
They also said that children returning to school in Ireland from SARS affected areas after the current holidays should be contact and advised to be screened and monitored on their return.
Earlier today the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, warned that Ireland was not dealing with the outbreak of SARS to its full capacity as a result of the strike by public health doctors.
Speaking on RTÉ radio earlier this afternoon the Minister responded to criticisms that Ireland was prepared for an outbreak of SARS.
Mr Martin said the strike by public health doctors was hindering matters in relation to SARS. Public health doctors are charged with the monitoring and controlling of infectious diseases.
The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), which represent the doctors, were called on by the Minister to end the industrial action and take their concerns to the Labour Court.
The doctors are on strike over what they claim is a failure by the Department of Health to implement a report published last April recommending that they be on call round the clock to deal with threats to public health.