LAST UPDATE | 16 Apr 2020

HEALTH OFFICIALS HAVE confirmed a further 43 people who contracted Covid-19 have died in Ireland, bringing the death toll from the coronavirus here to 486.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan confirmed this evening that there are 629 new cases of the coronavirus in the country, and 95 more Irish cases from a testing backlog have also been confirmed by a lab in Germany.

The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland now stands at 13,271.

Two healthcare workers at St Luke’s General Hospital in Kilkenny and eight patients at a care centre in Laois are among the dead.

In the Dáil today, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar was told that nursing homes have been “left behind”.

Internationally, the UK Government’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said: “It is these sort of changes, the fact that we have managed, all of us, to keep our social distancing going, that’s meant that the transmission of the virus in the community has reduced”, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a vaccine may be the only thing that can bring back “normalcy”.

Here are today’s Covid-19 main points:

• The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland now stands at 13,271.
• Two healthcare workers at St Luke’s General Hospital in Kilkenny have died from Covid-19. A spokesperson for the Ireland East Hospital Group extended “sincere condolences to their families, friends and colleagues”.
• Minister for Health Simon Harris told the Dáil today that the Covid-19 testing backlog here had been mostly cleared. He said there was now a demand for about 3,000 tests per day, which they now have the capacity to do. Harris said the next step would be to widen the case definition for testing again. He warned, however, “when the case definition is widened again, we may run into problems again if there is a big spike in demand.”
• Nine patients died at a residential centre in Co Laois last weekend, eight of whom were confirmed to have the virus. The remaining 17 residents will have their conditions reviewed. 
• In a sitting of the Dáil today, Leo Varadkar said that nursing homes will not be the forgotten front line as he faced a series of questions from Fianna Fáil and opposition parties about the emergency facing nursing homes. 
• Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said that he believes “nursing homes were left behind significantly”. 
• The government will top up the wages of thousands of employees working in the childcare sector up to a maximum of €586 a week. Childcare providers have until next Tuesday to apply to the scheme. 
• More than a third of Irish people say they are unsure if they would accept a potential vaccine for Covid-19 if one was developed, according to a new study.
• Consumer sentiment suffered its largest monthly drop on record in April, according to a survey by KBC, reflecting a sharp change both in Irish economic conditions and household financial circumstances as a result of Covid-19.
• The Garda Air Support Unit is being used to identify groups of people who are not complying with social distancing measures. 
• We’ve debunked two more inaccurate messages being sent around – a ‘tentative’ list of dates the government might start letting things reopen is false and there is no evidence that criminals are dousing facemasks with chemicals so they can rob people.
• People working in the arts have said the current situation has placed huge financial pressure on them.
• The Dogs Trust charity has launched a new initiative offer temporary foster care for the dogs of frontline healthcare workers during the crisis.
• Charity Jack & Jill has made an appeal for donations, saying it is facing a massive shortfall of €500,000 while over 300 children and families continue to rely on its support.

Here are today’s Covid-19 main international points:

• Lockdown measures to slow the spread of coronavirus in the UK have been extended for at least three more weeks. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, deputising for Prime Minister Boris Johnson made the announcement this afternoon. It comes as the latest figures showed that a further 861 people had died from Covid-19 in the UK, bringing the total number of deaths to 13,729.
• Spain’s coronavirus death toll has soared past 19,000 after another 551 people died of Covid-19, with the numbers reflecting a slowdown after five weeks of lockdown.
• A Covid-19 vaccine may be the only thing that can bring back “normalcy”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said, hoping for just that before the end of the year.
• US President Donald Trump has promised to unveil plans to reopen the US economy, claiming the US had “passed the peak” of the Covid-19 pandemic despite a record daily death toll of almost 2,600.
• New York residents have been ordered to wear face masks in shops and on public transport.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the global coronavirus pandemic is an opportunity for Russia and the US to work together.
• Online retailer Amazon has said it will close its French distribution centres for five days from today after a court ordered it to evaluate measures taken to protect workers from the virus.
• A 99-year-old British veteran has helped to raise over £12 million (about €13.7 million) for the NHS, and funds have also been pouring in for the family of a pregnant nurse who died in England.
• A row looks set to break out at tomorrow’s meeting of the 20 Premier League clubs over when this year’s season should end – a slim majority of clubs want the season to finish on 30 June.
• Horse racing in the UK is to be suspended into May and will not resume as previously hoped on 30 April, the the British Horse Racing Authority has announced.