The number of people who’ve died from Covid-19 in Ireland has exceeded 400, after the largest daily increase in the death toll here so far. Yesterday evening, the Department of Health confirmed that 41 more people had sadly died of the coronavirus here, with 11,429 cases of the virus now confirmed. Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald also confirmed that yesterday she received a positive diagnosis for Covid-19 after a two-week wait, but that she is now free of the virus.

The Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil parliamentary parties will meet separately today to consider approving a joint policy document on government formation, which was agreed by Leo Varadkar and Micheál Martin yesterday. A spokesperson said “Full and equal partnership between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil” is at the centre of the agreement.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) accused The Mater Private Hospital of refusing to give special sick leave to nurses who were self-isolating due to Covid-19, adding that while nurses in the public service who were asked to self-isolate received “special leave with pay”, the Mater Private Hospital insisted that similar staff in its facility had to use their ordinary sick leave cover. The Times reported on it here.

Stobart Air is poised to seek court protection from creditors in coming days as Covid-19 travel bans continue to bite, Barry O’Halloran reports. The Dublin-based carrier is likely to ask the High Court to appoint an examiner in a bid to extricate the business from difficulties it faces as a result of the travel bans that have grounded passenger flights. 

Schools in Denmark have started reopening today, after a month-long closure over the novel coronavirus. The Nordic country is the first in Europe to start opening up nurseries, kindergartens and primary schools after they were closed on 12 March in an effort to curb the Covid-19 epidemic.

President Donald Trump announced yesterday that The United States will halt funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) while a review is conducted, adding some states in the US could reopen before the end of this month. 

The Guardian reports on a comparison of mortality rates in Ireland and the UK and the potential reasons for the stark difference in this opinion piece.

Lastly, a filmmaker in Dublin set about capturing an Easter weekend like no other in this short film that showed the hauntingly empty streets of Ireland over the weekend, while in Italy, Bocelli performed a special Music for Hope concert in the empty Duomo cathedral in Milan.

Keep safe everyone.