The Eastern Regional Health Authority said this evening that all tests on a Chinese woman currently under observation in a Dublin hospital have returned negative for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
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An air traveller's temperature is checked by a thermal-imaging thermometer at Baiyu Airport in China
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"All tests have been carried out and are negative. There is no evidencethat it is SARS," the EHRA said in a statement. "The patient will continue to be monitored.".
The woman, who recently returned to Ireland from Guangdong province, a region which the World Health Organisation has warned people not to travel to, had been staying in a hostel in Dun Laoighaire, Co Dublin.
She was treated in St Vincent's Hospital on Friday before being released back to the hostel and instructed to wear a mask. She was readmitted to hospital this morning.
A Chinese national has also been tested for SARS at Daisy Hill hospital in Newry, it has emerged. However, a spokeswoman for the hospital said there was no specific threat as all tests had so far proved negative.
The man, who runs a restaurant in Dundalk, Co Louth, presented himself at the hospital for tests after returning from a trip to the Far East on Tuesday 15th. The hospital said he had complained of symptoms associated with SARS. He was treated in an isolation ward at Daisy Hill hospital while his case was diagnosed.
This evening, the Minister for Health, Mr Martin said the Dublin test results proved that the treatment course followed by the hospital was correct.
Mr Martin admitted there had been a breakdown in communication between the Department of Health and EHRA but stressed that the important thing was that the treatment procedures followed were correct.
The Minister said the strike by Public Health Doctors strike was a major impediment to the State's plan to protect against the SARS, but stressed it was not a factor in the communication difficulties in this case.
He repeated a request to the Irish Medical Organisation to return to the Labour Relations Commission in a bid to thrash out a resolution to the deal.
Public health doctors, now in their second week of strike action over pay and working conditions, left their picket to interview the woman and plan to trace anyone who may have been in contact with her at the hostel over the weekend. Public health doctors are charged with the monitoring and controlling of infectious diseases like SARS.
Earlier today Fine Gael suggested that the Government put a temporary ban on people travelling to and from China until the SARS situation there is clearer.
The call from the party's Seanad leader, Senator Brian Hayes. "Internal travel within China is now being curtailed to prevent the spread of the disease. The Government should follow the Chinese example and put in place an immediate ban on people travelling to and from China until the SARS situation in that country is fully clarified," said Senator Hayes.
The Labour Party's health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, claimed there had been a "systems failure" in dealing with the SARS threat that was "symptomatic of a deeper lack of political leadership requiring immediate action".
Sinn Féin's health spokesman, Mr Caoimhghin O Caolain said there was a situation of "drift, uncertainty and lack of leadership" in the face of the SARS threat, and called on Mr Martin to "take control and prevent a climate of hysteria from developing".
An expert group met yesterday to discuss strategy to fight the spread of the virus and it made a number of recommendations for schools with foreign students returning from SARS-affected areas.