The first case of coronavirus Covid-19 has been diagnosed in Northern Ireland, taking the total number of UK cases to 16.
Northern Ireland’s Public Health Agency said the patient had recently returned from northern Italy and had also been in Dublin.
Officials said they are “working rapidly” to trace anyone who has had contact with the individual.
It came as two more people were hospitalised with the virus in England following trips to Tenerife and Italy. There are still no confirmed cases in Scotland.
The North Irish adult had recently been in Italy and Dublin.
A special unit has been established at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for isolating those suffering from the virus.
Chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride said: “We have been planning for the first positive case in Northern Ireland and have made clear that it was a question of when not if.”
The Department of Health said the English patients had contracted the virus while in Italy and Tenerife. They are being treated at the Royal Liverpool Hospital and the Royal Free Hospital in London.
In Scotland, 470 people have been tested for the virus but all results have been negative.
Health Protection Scotland issued advice on limiting the spread of the virus in schools, colleges and universities.
The guidance sent to councils’ directors of education details how to prep staff on preventing the spread of infections and courses of action if staff or pupils become unwell, and gives advice on hygiene techniques.
Schools will also be advised on how to deal with people returning from hotspots such as Italy, Iran and China.
Education Secretary John Swinney said: “We are well-prepared for an outbreak in Scotland but the public also has a vital role to play in helping us contain any positive cases by keeping themselves informed and following basic hygiene precautions such as hand-washing and covering their nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing.”
It came as Pope Francis cancelled a planned Mass after falling ill a day after greeting crowds of Ash Wednesday worshippers outside the Vatican.
The 83-year-old pontiff was said to have a “slight indisposition” as he pulled out of attending the event today at the St John Lateran basilica in Rome.
Yesterday he was seen coughing, blowing his nose and speaking with a hoarse voice during the Ash Wednesday Mass at the Vatican, after which he was photographed touching hands and kissing people in the crowd gathered in St Peter’s Square.
The Vatican has not specified the nature of the Pope’s illness, but it comes as coronavirus outbreaks in regions including Venice and Milan led to several Italian towns being quarantined.
The number of cases of Covid-19 in Italy have climbed to 400 – an increase of 25 per cent in 24 hours – although only three known cases are in Rome.
The outbreak of Covid-19 started in China’s Hubei province in December and has killed 2,747 people in the country.
However, the World Health Organisation says the virus has peaked in China and is now spreading faster in the rest of the world.
Speaking at a summit organised by health thinktank the Nuffield Trust, England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said he does not think the world is facing anything on the level of the deadly Spanish flu in 1918.
He said: “We are not heading into a H1N1 1918 flu pandemic situation, but the coronavirus does present some challenges for us.
“It definitely will for a period. How big remains to be seen.”
The H1N1 influenza pandemic in 1918 is estimated to have killed at least 50 million people worldwide.
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