The Explainer

There are a lot of numbers flying around the place that tell us things about the coronavirus outbreak - but analysing them can be tricky.Is it possible to read too far into some numbers, and too soon? Or is tracking the trajectory of death and diagnosis tolls our best way of getting a handle on how the coronavirus is affecting Ireland? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Skip to 0:58 for Germany, 19:23 for the United States, 41:48 for Sweden, and 1:01:47 for South Korea.The world is united in fighting the spread of the coronavirus, but every country has had its own journey.This week for The Explainer podcast we speak to reporters from four different countries to find out how things are going where they live.When did the restrictions come in? How have their country leaders been dealing with it? Are there any local customs or habits which make have helped or hindered the actions being taken there? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While every country has had its own individual response to the coronavirus, there has been a fairly consistent approach of acting as soon as the issue became apparent.However, the UK stood out for taking a slightly different approach, and introducing social distancing and a shutdown at a later point than countries like Ireland.Stories in the UK press suggesting the country had initially aimed to pursue herd immunity and encourage vulnerable and older people to stay at home were much criticised. So why did the UK take the approach it did, and what has it meant for the people living there? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The country is in the middle of an unprecedented crisis - schools are shut, people are working from home when they can, and the government has been reassuring people that it's doing all it can to stop the spread of Covid-19.But besides the very obvious unusual things about this situation, there has been something else people have had to contend with: the spread of misinformation.On this week's episode of The Explainer podcast, we look at the spread of misinformation, and at TheJournal.ie's work of debunking the claims. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With the Covid-19 outbreak comes significant challenges, including huge pressure on our health service and disruption to our day-to-day lives.Minister for Health Simon Harris has already flagged that we are likely to see significantly more cases in Ireland, but many would be hoping that we can avoid what's happening in Italy.Italy has the second-highest number of cases in the world, after China, and the number of cases continues to spiral into the thousands. The entire country was put into lock-down on Monday night in an effort to contain the virus This week on The Explainer we're looking at how Covid-19 virus spread so fast there, and what can be learned from the approach of the Italian government.Joining presenter Sinéad O'Carroll is our senior reporter Michelle Hennessy as well as Professor of Health Systems at DCU Anthony Staines to examine what exactly happened in Italy, whether Ireland might have to implement a similar approach to contain the virus, what our other options might be, and how other countries are approaching the challenge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Super Tuesday has come and gone, and it's impact is already being felt - we've a comeback kid and already one hopeful has dropped out(that would be billionaire Michael Bloomberg).People in 14 states voted for their preferred Democratic candidate, which means that we get a greater sense of who could face Donald Trump in the 2020 election.But what is Super Tuesday exactly, what states were involved, and what could it mean for Trump? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You might have many questions about the situation around this coronavirus – is it a pandemic? If it becomes one, what does that mean for Ireland? How can you keep yourself and your family safe? What does ‘self isolation’ mean?In this week’s episode, we cut through the scaremongering to answer your questions with facts and the most up-to-date information from experts. In studio we have Noteworthy investigative reporter Maria Delaney and Dr Kim Roberts, Assistant Professor of Virology at Trinity College Dublin. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The general election has come and gone - so why don't we have a government?The Dáil has sat for the first time, but party leaders were unable to gather enough votes to become Taoiseach, leading to Leo Varadkar's resignation. There's talk of a left-wing coalition let by Sinn Féin, but there's also talk of a grand coalition between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.Where do we go from here?Nicky Ryan is joined by Gavan Reilly, political correspondent with Virgin Media News, DCU politics professor Gary Murphy, as well as our own political correspondent Christina Finn to figure out what exactly is going on. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The exit poll indicated we'd be talking about Sinn Féin throughout count day but it didn't point to the absolutely huge first preference votes its candidates would get across the country. The party has topped polls in multiple constituencies, with popular sitting TDs, deputies who had feared for their seats and unknown names who came from seemingly nowhere. Storm Ciara brought turbulence in more ways than one. We know a number of ministers will lose their seats, with Shane Ross the first formally eliminated in the fifth count in Dublin Rathdown. What else has been happening and what should we expect on Monday? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For our first live episode, recorded at Crow Street in Dublin's Temple Bar, we're looking at how Ireland ends up with the politicians it has. How much do polls, debates, and social media have to do with it - and how much is people voting for party or country?Sinéad O'Carroll is joined by journalist and broadcaster Lise Hand and Professor Gary Murphy, Associate Professor of Politics at DCU, and Maynooth University’s election guru Adrian Kavanagh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.