LAST UPDATE | 6 Apr 2020

A FURTHER 370 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland have been confirmed this evening, bringing the total number of cases to 5,364.

The Department of Health also said that a further 16 people have died from the virus, bringing the death toll here to 174.

Health officials also confirmed that 99 clusters in nursing homes and institutions have been identified around the country, up from 57 earlier today.

Here are today’s main Covid-19 points:

• The Department of Health announced a further 16 people have died from Covid-19 in Ireland. 370 more cases were also confirmed this evening. 
• Authorities in Northern Ireland said yesterday that a further seven people died of Covid-19 there, bring the death toll to 63. It also has 1,089 confirmed cases. 
• There are now 99 clusters of Covid-19 in nursing homes and institutions around the country, according to the latest report from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre. 
• Covid-19 community assessment hubs, which open this week, will keep patients from overburdening the hospital system while being treated by healthcare staff, the head of the GP association has said.
• Over half a million people in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, bringing the total number of people unemployed in the State to more than 700,000.
• Construction activity reached an 11-year low after Covid-19 restrictions shut down the industry last month. The Ulster Bank construction purchasing managers’ index has fallen to levels only previously been seen at the height of the global financial crisis. 
• Irish supermarkets experienced the busiest month of grocery sales “ever recorded” in March due to unprecedented levels of demand fueled by the coronavirus crisis, according to new figures.
• The Convention Centre in Dublin will be used for the full sitting of the Dáil which will be needed to elect the next Taoiseach, it has been confirmed.
• An Post delivery workers will now be able to offer check-ins and free newspaper deliveries to people who are cocooning at the moment.
• The co-leader of the Social Democrats has raised concerns about the “relaxation” in the residency rules for Irish tax exiles as a result of the ongoing coronavirus crisis. 
• Fianna Fáil’s Justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan has urged the Government to make sure IT security is up to date in Irish hospitals and health care facilities following a formal warning from Interpol that international cybercriminals are looking to cash in on the current pandemic. 
• Minister for Tourism Shane Ross said he is working to find “a fair and commensurate response” to alleviate the financial pressures that are now impacting on the travel sector in Ireland. Ross says he has written to the EU Commission on the matter but the use of vouchers or some form of a credit note for customer refunds are also being considered.
• Northern Ireland’s annual Twelfth of July parades have been cancelled for the first time since the Second World War due to coronavirus.
• Stena Line has announced that it plans to furlough 600 employees with 150 redundancies across Ireland and the UK.
• Court-ordered access for children of separated parents should continue to “the greatest degree possible” during the pandemic, the Law Society of Ireland has said.

Here are today’s main international points: 

• UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is still in hospital under observation but had a “comfortable” night after being admitted last night with persistent coronavirus symptoms, Downing Street has said.
• British department store chain Debenhams is set to declare bankruptcy for the second time in a year, the group said today amid the coronavirus crisis. 
• A four-year-old tiger at New York’s Bronx Zoo has tested positive for Covid-19, the institution said has said.
• Coronavirus deaths in New York state climbed to nearly 4,200 as US President Donald Trump said his country was “starting to see light at the end of the tunnel”.
• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said he will declare a state of emergency for Tokyo and six other prefectures as early as Tuesday to fight the coronavirus outbreak but there will be no hard lockdowns.
• This year’s Open Championship has been cancelled, organisers of the golf competition have announced.
• Scotland’s chief medical officer, Dr Catherine Calderwood, resigned last night after being criticised for not adhering to social distancing advice by visiting her second home.
• Iran says the trajectory of coronavirus infections there appears to have started a “gradual” downward trend, but the government warned the virus is far from being under control. The country’s overall death toll stands at 3,739, with the total number of confirmed cases at 60,500. 
• According to economists at the International Monetary Fund, the global recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic will be worse than in 2009, but early signs of a recovery are appearing in China, including renewed pollution.

This piece was amended to clarify that there were 99 confirmed clusters in both nursing homes and residential settings.