THIS EVENING, THE first case of Covid-19 was confirmed on the island of Ireland – in a person who travelled from Italy, via Dublin.

You might have many questions about the situation around this coronavirus – is it a pandemic? If it becomes one, what does that mean for Ireland? How can you keep yourself and your family safe? What does ‘self isolation’ mean?

In this week’s episode, we cut through the scaremongering to answer your questions with facts and the most up-to-date information from experts. In studio to help us answer them we had Noteworthy investigative reporter Maria Delaney and Dr Kim Roberts, Assistant Professor of Virology at Trinity College Dublin. 

We put to them the most common questions about Covid-19 and its spread.

We also spoke to Cillian de Gascun, chairman of the Department of Health’s Coronavirus Expert Advisory Group, about the virus and how it differs from influenza. 

If you still have questions you want answered, here at TheJournal.ie we’re looking for you to send them to us so we can ask the experts. Find out more here.

https://soundcloud.com/the-explainer-podcast/what-you-need-to-know-about-covid-19

This episode was put together by presenter and producer Aoife Barry, assistant producer and technical operator Nicky Ryan, and executive producer Christine Bohan. Guests were Maria Delaney of Noteworthy, Dr Kim Roberts, and Cillian de Gascun. Design by Palash Somani.