Health experts will today decide whether mass gatherings should be cancelled because of the coronavirus.

The National Public Health Emergency Team will give guidance on how to handle St Patrick's Day parades and other big events.

The Government’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has said event organisers will be given guidance on any decision taken.

“We are giving some consideration to the issue of mass gatherings, ongoing consideration to our public health guidance and to the question of community testing and the possibility of moving the burden of community testing from hospital environments out into the community,” he said.

Dr Tony Holohan, Chief Medical Officer at the Department of Health, 28-02-2020. Image: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews

In a statement, the emergency team said Ireland remains in a “containment phase” with only one confirmed case of the virus in the Republic to date.

It said the decision to close a Dublin school for two weeks was taken as a precaution because pupils and teachers may have had direct contact with the patient.

It said siblings not attending the school, parents and other members of the community should continue their daily routine as normal.

The Health Minister Simon Harris will update the Cabinet on the latest developments regarding the virus this morning.

The Environmental Health Service HSE team at Dublin Airport, 28-02-2020. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews

Meanwhile, up to 8,000 Google staff in Dublin will work from home today as a precaution after an employee showed flu-like symptoms.

It is not a confirmed case of the virus.

In the UK, the Government is preparing to unveil a six-point action plan aimed at tackling the outbreak.

There have been 39 confirmed cases in the UK so far.

Meanwhile, the US President Donald Trump is considering tightening travel restrictions, with more than 100 confirmed cases in the country.

There have been nearly 91,000 confirmed cases around the world with over 3,000 deaths.

The vast majority of cases have been in mainland China, with South Korea the second-worst affected with nearly 5,000 cases.

There have been just over 2,000 cases in Italy and 1,500 in Iran.

Tourists at the Spanish Steps in Rome amid the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, 25-02-2020. Image: IPA/ABACA/ABACA/PA Images

Dr Lindsay Broadbent, from Queens University Belfast, says two-thirds of people in the world could eventually develop the illness.

But she says, for most people, the virus will be quite mild.

“In Ireland we are probably quite lucky that a large proportion of the population live in quite rural communities,” she said.

“They might have added protection from this virus because they won’t be in very busy areas.”

She said about 80% of people who do contract the illness will have a “very mild illness and will not require any hospitalisation at all.”

She said people over the age of 70 and 80 and more vulnerable to sever disease.

The HSE is urging anyone who has been to one of seven coronavirus-affected areas in the past two weeks and is experiencing symptoms of the virus to phone their local GP or Emergency Department without delay.

If you are felling well, you are advised to carry on with your normal routine.

People are urged to contact the HSE on 1850 24 1850 if they think they have been in contact with a coronavirus patient or at a healthcare facility in another country where coronavirus patients are being treated.