38 more people have died from Covid-19 in the State, bringing the overall death toll to 444.

657 more cases of the coronavirus have also been diagnosed in the Republic. In addition, a further 411 cases of coronavirus were confirmed from the backlog of tests at the laboratory in Germany.

This brings the total number of additional cases to 1,068.

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Ireland is now 12,547.

There are now 296 cases confirmed in Donegal which has the highest number of cases out of western and northwestern counties.

The latest figures were released ahead of a briefing on the Covid19 pandemic by Chief Medical Officer

Almost 1,000 tests a day for coronavirus are being carried out in Northern Ireland, the health department has said.

Officials have faced calls for greater transparency over the number of people who are dying in care homes after contracting the infection as well as demands for more testing there.

Six new deaths from the Covid-19 virus have occurred since Tuesday and another 121 laboratory-confirmed cases detected.

From this Friday, a weekly bulletin will give deaths by place of occurrence, such as a hospital or non-hospital setting.

Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has promised more coronavirus testing to try to build on a decline in daily COVID-19 deaths that has allowed Spain to start tentatively reopening its locked-down economy.

Officials hope more testing will give a better indication of the areas where lockdowns can be eased further.

"Spain is already one of the countries making the most daily tests. More than 20,000, and we are increasing the number,"Sanchez told a near-empty parliament.

Spain's daily number of deaths from the coronavirus fell to 523 on Wednesday from 567 the day before, the health ministry said - well below a peak of 950 reached on 2 April.

Nursing Homes Ireland has welcomed the agreement between the HSE and Unions to redeploy staff to private nursing homes.

It's CEO Tadgh Daly has said they're waiting to see the detail of the agreement.

He has described it as a national response to a national emergency.

Mr Daly has reiterated that Nursing Homes in Ireland are on the front line of the coronavirus, while there are 2,500 empty beds in the acute hospitals.

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy rose by 578 today, down from 602 the day before, while the number of new cases slowed to 2,667 from a previous 2,972, continuing the recent downward trend.

The number of new cases was the lowest since 13 March but the daily tally of deaths remains stubbornly high.

It has hovered between 525 and 636 for the last 11 days,except for a steep drop to 431 on Easter Sunday, which was immediately reversed the following day.