New rules have been introduced for Covid-19 testing that say patients will now have to display two major symptoms - a fever and either a cough or shortness of breath - and fall into a priority group in order to be tested. These are close contacts of a confirmed case, healthcare staff and vulnerable groups. 

A raft of new public health measures announced yesterday to combat the spread of Covid-19, include restrictions on gatherings of more than four people. All non-essential retail outlets were also asked to close, with restaurants and cafes told to close unless they can offer a take-away option. Supermarkets and pharmacies will remain open. Other retailers deemed essential include opticians, fuel stations, laundries, banks, post offices, credit unions and hardware stores. The full list of ‘essential’ retailers that may remain open is available here.

The Irish Nurses & Midwives Organisation (INMO) has called for all student nurses and midwives completing unpaid work placements during the Covid-19 outbreak to be paid and protected as employees. For many of them, today is the day when they begin their six-week placement but unlike the other areas of the health service where recruitment is underway in earnest, these students won’t be paid for their work.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games have been postponed until 2021. The decision to postpone was welcomed by both the Olympic Federation of Ireland and the Paralympic Federation of Ireland.

The Irish Times has reported on Fórsa’s confirmation that Special Needs Assistants (SNAs) may be reassigned to other posts to help with contact tracing, as part of a public service-wide mobilisation to tackle the virus and maintain essential public services, under plans that allow for the temporary transfer of staff to critical roles for up to three months. You can read up on it here. 

Trade union Unite has called on the Government to close construction sites throughout the country, subject to a wage compensation scheme such as that proposed by ICTU, to limit the spread of the virus amid concerns that adequate social distancing measures cannot be maintained on sites, placing 150,000 construction workers and their families at risk.

In honour of the French comic-book artist and creator of Asterix, Albert Uderzo, who sadly passed away yesterday, here’s a look at some of his best work for a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

Lastly, residents at St Luke's Home in Mahon, Co Cork, were no longer allowed to receive visitors due to social distancing measures brought in to protect the vulnerable and elderly, so the staff put out a message on social media, resulting in hundreds of letters, poems, drawings and cards from around Ireland and Europe offering them support. You can watch how that played out here, in case you needed a little pick-me-up.

Stay safe everyone.