The HSE is giving a briefing this afternoon on Irish contingency plans for the coronavirus.
170 people have now died from the infection, while the number of confirmed cases has reached almost 8-thousand.
Infections have also spread to at least 16 other countries and the World Health Organisation will decide today whether the coronavirus outbreak is a global public health emergency.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is advising against all non-essential travel to China.
IKEA said it was closing all 30 of its stores in China and the Chinese Football Association announced domestic matches had been indefinitely postponed.
The World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing have also been postponed until March 2021.
Dr Michael Ryan, executive director at the WHO health emergencies programme, said on Wednesday: "The whole world needs to be on alert now, the whole world needs to take action and be ready for any cases that come, either from the original epicentre or from other epicentres that become established."
