LAST UPDATE | 20 May 2020

Quiet streets with some commuters on Dublin's north quays. Sasko Lazarov / Rollingnews.ie Sasko Lazarov / Rollingnews.ie / Rollingnews.ie

A DAY AFTER health officials faced questions from TDs about the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, ministers will today be questioned by the opposition.

It comes as we got our first indication of when antibody testing is likely to begin in Ireland, a plan that should give a truer sense of how many people in the population have had the virus.

Here are today’s Covid-19 main points

Ireland

• Health officials confirmed that a further 11 people have died from Covid-19 in Ireland. There were 64 new cases reported.
• A study that will test Irish people for coronavirus antibodies is planned for June, with Dr Cillian de Gascun saying a random sample of the population will be invited to take the test.
• A total of 36 children aged under 15 have been hospitalised with Covid-19, according to the Health Protection Surveillance centre. 
• Campaigner Vicky Phelan has urged the HSE to lay out a roadmap which indicates a plan for when screening programmes including Brest Check and CervicalCheck will resume. 
• A man in his 60s has been charged with breaking the emergency Covid-19 restrictions in Cork.
• The HSE has outlined its strategy for Covid-19 in Direct Provision centres but warned that some accommodation may be “insufficient or unsuitable” for self-isolation.
• Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has rejected calls to close a Kerry Direct Provision centre, but has apologised to local residents for how it was opened.
• House prices in Ireland Ireland could fall by as much as 12% due to the Covid-19 crisis, according to a new study. 
• Finance Minister  Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe has said that he is “examining the issue” of women returning from maternity leave not being eligible for the Covid-19 Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme.
• More than a third of women and over a quarter of men have reported feeling “downhearted and depressed” due to the Covid-19 emergency.
• The Licensed Vintners Association has said that four out of 10 Dublin pubs are planning to re-open ‘as restaurants’ on 29 June.
• Cocooning cancer patients must have fair access to pandemic illness payments so they do not feel forced to risk an unsafe return to work, the Irish Cancer Society has said.
• The Irish Hairdressers Federation has said it will be publishing an “extensive set of expert health and safety recommendations” in the coming days. 

World

• US President Donald Trump has suggested that the G7 summit could happen in Camp David and not by video conference. The meeting planned for three week’s time had originally been planned for the presidential retreat before the Covid-19 pandemic. 
• The University of Cambridge has confirmed that all “face-to-face lectures” will be moved online during the next academic year.
• The English Premier League has confirmed that there have been six positive results across arising from the first wave of Covid-19 testing for footballers.
• Hundreds of thousands of South Korean students have returned to school after a coronavirus delay of more than two months.
• A registry of death certificates in Mexico City suggests the actual Covid-19 death toll in the city could be more than three times the recorded number. The registry mentioned Covid-19 in 4,577 deaths while the official total is 1,332. 
• New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has raised the prospect of Kiwis enjoying extra public holidays and a shorter working week to help the country’s post-lockdown economy.
• The 3,000 members of the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature, will gather in Beijing this week after months of delay due to Covid-19. 

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