A Chinese woman has been confirmed as the latest suspected SARS victim in Ireland.
The woman, who recently travelled from Asia, is currently under surveillance by public health doctors.
The woman presented herself to the A&E department of Dublin's St Vincent's Hospital on Friday evening with SARS-like symptoms. It would appear she was given a surgical mask and sent back to the hostel in which she is currently residing in Dublin. She spent the weekend in the hostel.
In a statement issued this evening, St Vincent's Hospital said "The patient was never admitted to the hospital but was medically assessed there on Friday April 18th and it was deemed appropriate that they be discharged home".
The Eastern Regional Health Authority said the woman is now being monitored, investigated and treated in accordance with best practice guidelines.
The patient's symptoms have improved since the weekend.
The case has been referred by the ERHA to the IMO Public Health Doctors' Strike Committee, which has agreed to allow doctors to do follow up contact tracing and monitoring.
Public health doctors in the IMO say they are treating the latest suspect case as a probable case. They say five public health doctors who have been on strike for a week have left the picket line to deal with the patient.
Expert group meets on SARS threat
A meeting today of the Department of Health expert group on SARS reviewed the advice for travellers arriving in Ireland from affected areas and recommended that additional measures be introduced at points of entry including the distribution of multilingual information leaflets.
The group also advised that children returning to school in Ireland from SARS affected areas after holidays should be screened in their place of residence and if unwell or if having recently been in contact with a known case of SARS, should refrain from travelling for 10 days.
The group held a preliminary discussion on matters relating to the Special Olympics and will meet with the organisers in the coming days.
The group's chairman, along with other Department of Health officials, also met with a representative of the Chinese Embassy this afternoon for a general discussion on the issue of SARS.
Martin calls for end to IMO action
Earlier, the Minister for Health said Ireland is not dealing with SARS to its full capacity because of a strike by public health doctors, who are involved in controlling infectious diseases.
Mícheál Martin again called for an end to the industrial action by the Irish Medical Organisation.
Mr Martin said a strike by Public Health doctors was hindering matters. He said the industrial relations machinery was not being utilised to its full potential ahd he called on the IMO to take the issue to the Labour Relations Commission.
The Minister said the World Health Organisation was not recommending visitors from countries where there are cases of SARS be quarantined.
Earlier, the Department of Health rejected claims that it is failing to implement a contingency plan in the event of a SARS emergency.
Games will go ahead despite SARS, says O'Brien
The chairman of the Special Olympics world games, Denis O'Brien, said he was confident that the event would go ahead, despite the threat from the virus that causes SARS.
As preparations continue for the Special Olympics in Ireland, more cases of SARS have been reported in China.
Three more deaths and 157 new cases have been reported by the authorities in Beijing.
Details announced
Up to 75,000 people are expected at Croke Park for the 3.5 hour Special Olympics opening ceremony which will be broadcast live on RTÉ on 21 June.
President Mary McAleese and former South African President, Nelson Mandela, will be guests of honour at the ceremony. With 7,000 participants, the games will be the biggest sporting event ever seen in Ireland, and the largest in the world this year.
The Corrs, U2 and Samantha Mumba will all be participating in the opening ceremony as will some of Ireland's other leading musicians, performers and choreographers.
The biggest stage ever seen in Ireland will be built on Hill 16 for the event.
350 representatives from host towns all over the country will perform a colourful routine to open the show and will form a guard of honour for the parade of athletes.
