LAST UPDATE | 18 Apr 2020

THE DEPARTMENT OF Health has confirmed this evening that a further 41 people have died of Covid-19 in Ireland. 

It has also been confirmed that there are 630 new cases of coronavirus in the country, and 148 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 14,758. 

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan says that the public’s efforts to tackle the spread of the virus have flattened Ireland’s Covid-19 curve and saved “hundreds of lives”.

On the international front, more than 2.2 million people have now been infected with the virus around the world and the death toll has climbed past 155,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Here are today’s Covid-19 main points:

• Health officials have confirmed a further 41 people who contracted Covid-19 have died in Ireland. 
• Dr Tony Holohan said Ireland’s Covid-19 curve has been flattened and that there is no peak expected.
• HSE chief Paul Reid said he is heartbroken after speaking with the next of kin of a healthcare worker who died from Covid-19.
• Staff and residents in nursing homes will be tested, with priority given to confirmed Covid-19 cases.
• A mortality census is being carried out across all long-term residential care facilities this weekend.
• An internal memo at a Dublin Nursing Home describing patients as ‘dirty’ was issued in error without any formal approval, according to the HSE.
• Last night, the Taoiseach asked for a review of travel restrictions at ports and airports following the Keelings fruit pickers controversy.
• Were you sent a photo purporting to show Bulgarian fruit pickers lined up outside a Dublin supermarket this week? The image is from April last year.
• Fianna Fáil has again cast doubt on a special Ard Fheis to ratify entering government due to the Covid-19 crisis. 
• Dublin City Council will remove loading bays and parking spaces to allow pedestrains and cyclists to practice social distancing.
• Fota Wildlife Park is expecting losses of €3.5 million this year. 
• There are calls for landscapers to be made essential workers.
• Efforts are being made to re-route two P&O ferries stranded at Dublin Port amid an ongoing stand-off between the company and the Port of Liverpool.

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

• At least 2.2 million people have been infected with the virus around the world and more than 154,000 have died.
• Nearly, two thirds of those deaths are in Europe, where the death toll has surpassed 100,000. 
• The WHO says there is ‘no evidence’ that Covid-19 survivors have immunity from the virus.
• The UK’s official Covid-19 death toll surpassed 15,000 after 888 new fatalities were announced. A charity warned that a further 7,500 people may have died in care homes.
• Spain’s death toll surpassed the 20,000 milestone after 565 people died in the last 24 hours.
• Italy recorded its lowest number of new fatalities in more than a week. A total of 23,277 people have now died in the Mediterranean country.
• US President Donald Trump got into a war of words with Andrew Cuomo after the New York Governor criticised the federal government’s response to the outbreak. 
• Trump also called protests against Covid-19 restrictions in some states “very responsible”.
• The Chinese government is pursuing a reopening of China’s economy while taking measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19, according to state-run media.
• Russia recorded a record jump in new infections as 4,785 cases were announced. The total number of confirmed fatalities in the country currently stands at 313.
• Canadians will be required to wear non-medical masks on airplanes.