LAST UPDATE | 20 May 2020

EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #OPEN LETTER: Justice minister Charlie Flanagan has rejected calls to close a Direct Provision centre in Kerry, but has apologised to locals for the manner in which it opened.

2. #UNSUITABLE: A letter obtained by TheJournal.ie shows how the HSE has warned that some Direct Provision centres may be “insufficient” for self-isolation for Covid-19 patients.

3. #NEW CASES: Health officials last night confirmed a further 16 patients diagnosed with Covid-19 have died in Ireland, as well as 51 new cases of the disease.

4. #ANTIBODY TEST: Officials also said that a study to test Irish people for coronavirus antibodies – which will see whether they may have already had the illness without knowing it – is being planned for June.

5. #NO SMOKING: The sale of menthol cigarettes and tobacco is set to be banned in Ireland from today.

6. #ARISE SIR TOM: World War Two fundraiser Thomas Moore, popularly known as Captain Tom, is set to receive a knighthood after raising millions for the NHS in the UK.

7. #WALTER BARTON: The state of Missouri has put to death a man convicted of a murder in 1991, the first execution in the United States after a hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

8. #NO MORE TALC: Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has announced it will stop selling talc-based baby powder in the US and Canada.

9. #DISSIDENT THREATS: The North’s First Minister and Deputy First Minister have joined newspaper editors and union leaders in condemning a number of recent threats against journalists in the region.