What should you do if you think you might have coronavirus?

The first thing to consider is have you possible symptoms – coughing, shortness of breath, breathing difficulties, fever?

Then, have you come back from any of the at-risk areas in the past 14 days – China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Iran, and four regions of Northern Italy: Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna or Piedmont?

Do you think you have been in contact with someone confirmed with the virus? Or were you in a hospital where coronavirus patients were being treated?

If you fit any of these criteria, call your GP. Do not call to the surgery in person.

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The GP will question you as per a normal medical consultation. Based on the outcome of this discussion, he or she may then contact the local public health doctor for further consultation.

If the GP decides you need to be tested, he or she will contact the emergency department of your local hospital, where staff will be informed that a person requiring testing is arriving. Staff will make the appropriate arrangements, such as donning protective gear.

New protocol

The protocol from this point on changed earlier this week. Before that point, people requiring tests were transported by ambulance to hospital. This will still apply in cases where people are very ill, but in cases where the person is deemed to be fit and able to travel, he or she can be brought to hospital by someone such as a partner or other household contact.

On arrival the person is tested and clinically assessed. If necessary on clinical grounds, they may be hospitalised, but those deemed to be fit to go home will be sent home.

Once home, they will be contacted by a public health specialist providing advice about self-isolation.

The test is sent to the National Virus Reference Laboratory in UCD where a result is ready within 24 hours. Effectively this means samples received in the afternoon will not receive results until the following day.

If the test is negative – as all in the Republic have been to date – the person is free to resume normal life, but advised to keep an eye on any symptoms.

If the result is positive, the person would be taken to hospital, mostly likely the national isolation unit at the Mater hospital in Dublin, and treated there.