Most ministerial trips abroad for St Patrick's Day events have been cancelled due to Covid-19.
Among the US trips axed are Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney in New York, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed in Chicago and Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs Ciaran Cannon in Boston.
Minister of State Paul Kehoe had already travelled to Savannah, Georgia, earlier this week.
Among the EU trips cancelled are Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan in Berlin and Minister for Culture Josepha Madigan in London.
Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys had already cancelled her trip to Sacramento, California.
Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe, who was due on Paris and Brussels, will continue to travel to Belgium due to a meeting of EU finance ministers.
Meanwhile, the National Bus and Rail Union has called for a major scaling back of train and bus capacities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
In a statement, NBRU General Secretary Dermot O'Leary said that while numbers travelling had started to drop off, his union remained concerned that seating and standing arrangements on buses and trains are not in line with those recommended for best practice of social distancing.
He said the union has written to the National Transport Agency in recent days requesting that they are involved as stakeholders.
They said no reply had been received as of yet and now they have written to the CEOs of Iarnród Éireann, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann to request bus and train capacity be reduced.
70 coronavirus cases in Republic
Twenty-seven new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Ireland, according to the Department of Health.
The majority of cases - 22 - are associated with local transmission.
Two were due to community transmission and three were associated with travel.
There are now 70 total confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Republic.
Two more cases in Northern Ireland
Two more cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Northern Ireland, bringing the total number there to 20.
The Public Health Agency says both involve adults and were secondary transmissions.
One case involves recent travel from Italy.
The other can be traced to a previously reported case in the UK.
259 negative tests have been carried out in Northern Ireland.
There are 90 cases in total on the island of Ireland.
People urged not to call into GP surgeries unannounced
Irish College of General Practitioners President Dr Mary Favier has said GPs have spent the last number of weeks preparing for Covid-19.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Dr Favier urged patients to call ahead for an appointment and not to call in unannounced.
She said patients will be asked a number of questions that they would not ordinarily have been asked so that GPs can organise the best course of action for treatment.
The Cork-based GP urged everyone to share the message of social distancing and good hygiene because it cannot be presumed that everyone has access to the internet and can read.
Parents urged to talk to children
Barnardos, meanwhile, has advised parents to talk to their children about coronavirus truthfully and to answer their questions in a calm manner.
Speaking on the same programme, the charity's CEO, Suzanne Connolly, said that the country is facing a serious situation and it is necessary to explain calmly to children how to wash their hands properly, to dispose of used tissues and to try not to touch their faces.
Ms Connolly said that for parents of children with underlying conditions it can be stressful but they should reassure these children they are being taken "extra care" of at this time.
She said it could be explained that most people who get the virus get a bad cold and only a small proportion of people would get very sick.
She said if children are concerned about a grandparent in a nursing home which has stopped visitors, it can be explained to children that there is a bad cold going around, which some people are catching and the nursing home wants to make sure no one with the cold is going in.
Parents can explain that this is to protect the grandparent.
Yesterday, a woman with an underlying illness who contracted Covid-19 died in the east of the country.
Nine new cases of coronavirus were confirmed, bringing the total number to 43.
The nine patients include four men from the south of the country whose cases are associated with travel, one woman and a man from the south of the country who had contact with a confirmed case and three men from the east of the country, two of which are associated with travel, one is associated with contact with a confirmed case.
The Health Service Executive is working to identify any contacts the patients may have had.
Measures in prisons
The Prison Service says it has made plans to isolate inmates in case of Covid-19 but that so far no case has been identified in the prisons.
It says it will not be imposing visitor restrictions at the moment but they can and may be introduced if necessary at a later stage.
It also says that the situation is being closely monitored and it will keep the public informed of any measures that may need to be brought in to prevent the risk of infection entering the country's prisons.
An Emergency Response Planning Team has been set up and the Prison Service says it is continually updating contingency plans to meet the demands of COVID 19.
There is also an Infection & Prevention Control Programme in the Irish Prison Service which it says aims to minimise the spread of infection among staff and prisoners by identifying possible infection in incoming prisoners at reception, reporting and managing infection when identified and taking precautions to minimize the threat of infection
