Simple steps that anyone can take to help contain the coronavirus

The virus is spreading rapidly round the world, and has been identified in more than 50 countries.

The details of the NI affected patient, believed to be a woman who travelled up to the Province from Dublin with a child, and her exact movements are not yet known. But she is said to have contacted her GP and taken steps to self-isolate.

This is a reflection of the fact that advice is being absorbed, no doubt helped by public figures who have travelled abroad and then publicised their decision to isolate themselves (such as the news broadcasters Nick Robinson and Jon Snow after visits to Vietnam-Cambodia and Iran).

Northern Ireland’s chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride said that they had been planning for the first positive case in Northern Ireland and that “robust infection control measures are in place”.

This is encouraging to hear, as is the vigilance with which the spread of the virus is being treated in many countries.

In the meantime, given the speed of the spread, and the multiple cases of infection in countries such as Italy which many Northern Ireland travellers have visited recently, there are precautions that everyone can take.

On the opposite page, Dr McBride’s “catch, bin it, kill it” advice is reproduced.

Increased, regular washing of hands is not a difficult habit to follow. There are also suggestions that people should avoid shaking hands at this time.

It is worth remembering that with 83,000 or so cases of the virus globally, its reach is still tiny in terms of percentage of the global population affected. The percentage of fatalities among those patients is very small indeed.

But while there are no grounds at all for panic, nor is there room for complacency.