Ireland has sought solace in its poetic tradition to overcome the coronavirus crisis and provide poignant words of hope to tackle grief and the hardship of lockdown.

"We need to feed ourselves first before talking about other things. We'll develop Chinese language education only after we have enough food to feed ourselves!"

After COVID-19 first appeared in China late last year, doctors quickly realised what made some patients more vulnerable to the virus than others: age, gender and underlying health problems all played a part.