WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Daily Covid-19 round-up

Here is your daily Covid-19 (coronavirus) round-up March 18, 2020:

• An Post have issued new special measures in an attempt to support the national containment effort of Covid-19. In order to help both high risk and low risk consumers, An Post have issued extending opening times, signing procedures and social distancing measures. 

• Guinness is announced the establishment of a €1.5 million fund providing support to communities affected by COVID-19 in Ireland.The fund will see €1.2 million go to support bar staff, alongside a further €300,000 to elderly vulnerable people through a partnership with ALONE, and its Befriending service.

• The Irish Water Crisis Management Team has been meeting over the past number of weeks to prepare for and deal with any issues arising from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Irish Water’s aim is to ensure the safety and well-being of staff and to secure the consistent quality and supply of drinking water and to maintain wastewater services on the public network.

• Member of the European Parliament Luke 'Ming' Flanagan has stated that his family will now go into self isolation due to Covid-19. This news comes after Ming released a tweet outlining his daughter is suspected of having the virus as she is experiencing all the symptoms. These symptoms include "Cough, shortness of breath and severe headache", according to Ming.

• GP's across Ireland have agreed to help those affected by Covid-19, even if they are not a registered with their practice. This new protocol has been issued in order to facilitate the growing numbers of inquiries and to make coronavirus testing more widely available. 

• Irish punters who made the pilgrimage to Cheltenham last week are now displaying signs of Covid-19.Some Cheltenham attendees have since began displaying symptoms and have taken to Twitter to advise others to be cautious. Some racegoers outlining that they have all the basic symptoms of the deadly virus, those being a cough, fever and breathing difficulties.

• This years Glastonbury Festival has been cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 2020 would of marked the 50th year of the renowned festival, which thousands of dedicated Irish festival goers attend every year.

• The justice system could find itself “swamped” in the months to come as efforts made to curb the spread of Covid-19 resulted in over 150 cases listed at Portlaoise Circuit Court all being adjourned this morning (March 18).

• There has been calls for the reduction of at-home alcohol consumption amid pub closures and Covid-19 isolation in Ireland. Drinkaware, the national charity working to prevent and reduce alcohol misuse in Ireland, is encouraging the public to manage time spent at home or in self-isolation without alcohol, given that 50% of Irish adults cite coping as motivation for their drinking habits.

• Ryanair are scheduled to ground almost 80% of their fleet by next Tuesday March 24,2020. A small number of flights between Ireland and England will remain in operation to keep open key communication channels between the two nations. 

• The Eurovision Song Contest becomes the latest international event to be cancelled due to Covid-19. The contest has been running for 64 years and has approximately 52 countries compete every year with over 204 million people watching the show in 2016.