EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you the five biggest stories of the day.

1. #CORONAVIRUS: The government has announced that schools across the country are to close to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The decision applies to all schools and third-level institutions, and none will open tomorrow. Here’s a link to our main piece. 

2. #CLOSEDOWN: All museums, galleries and tourism sites will also shut. Mass gatherings of over 100 (indoor) and 500 (outdoor) are cancelled. All these measures will take effect from 6pm today until 29 March. You can follow our liveblog here for updates. 

3. #HIRING: St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin has said that it is seeking expressions of interest from healthcare workers to meet the rising demand in a number of areas following the national outbreak of Covid-19. As of yesterday evening there were 43 cases in Ireland and 18 cases in Northern Ireland.

4. #OVAL OFFICE: The Taoiseach has met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office this afternoon – the last stop in his two-day tour to the United States. The two leaders did not shake hands. 

5. #ST PATRICK’S: The St Patrick’s Festival has announced the cancellation of the remainder of its festival cultural programme, which had been planned to run over the weekend. Other gigs have also been cancelled in light of the government announcement.