The Department of Health is recommending that next weeks Ireland v Italy 6 rugby match be cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The decision was made following a meeting of the National Public Health Emergency Team.
Italy were set to visit Dublin's Aviva Stadium on March 7th to play Ireland in the Six Nations.
According to the Public Health Emergency Team would constitute a significant risk due to the numbers travelling from Italy.
10 people are now known to have died from the coronavirus in Italy.
The Public Health Emergency Team is also urging anyone who has returned from Hong Kong, South Korea, Iran, Singapore and parts of northern Italy and is displaying symptoms to self-isolate and contact their GP.
Meanwhile, a number of Irish schools have sought advice after students returned from school ski trips to Northern Italy.
One Waterford school had 40 students in the Folgaria region of Italy, while the other had 41 in Andalo in northern Italy.
It's understood one of the schools contacted local GP to seek advice and all students are deemed to be low risk.
Mount Anville secondary school in Goatstown, Dublin wrote to parents to advise any students with a compromised immune system to be kept at home.
Three schools in Northern Ireland who also had students abroad on ski trips in nortern Italy have sent some students home to self-isolate.
