The Health Service Executive is implementing plans that have never been seen before "in the history of the Irish health system".
The Chief Executive of the HSE said that the death rate in Italy yesterday of more than 800 deaths from Covid-19 is a "stark reminder to all of us in Ireland that the stakes we are dealing with are very high".
Paul Reid acknowledged that is currently a delay in testing for the coronavirus, but that progress has been made. He said almost 40,000 testing kits are being distributed at the moment, with a further 20,000 due to be made available on Wednesday.
The HSE is also in "advanced negotiations" with China to secure another 100,000 testing kits each week. 50 test centres are now being set up nationwide to carry out