Hundreds of Irish people are still struggling to get home to where they live in Ireland or abroad as the number of coronavirus cases worldwide grows. Two Cork men were taken into quarantine by Vietnamese health authorities in recent days after cases of coronavirus were identified at a bar they attended for St Patrick's Day celebrations. "Our first night was a little rough ... It's very hot in the room and there's no air con," Emmet Quinlan, who has lived in Vietnam three years, explains. Our most read story this week is about Ciara Hogan, from Co Tipperary, who shared her experience of getting a rescue flight from Peru: "It was a total rollercoaster, and people reacted in very different ways," she says.
Tributes have been paid to Alice Kennedy, chair of the Irish Elderly Advice Network in London, who has died from coronavirus. The 83-year-old, who was originally from Clonaslee, Co Laois, has been remembered as "a stalwart" of the Irish community in London by the Irish Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Adrian O'Neill.
In Australia, regular Abroad contributor Philip Lynch wrote about how life in rural Tasmania is changing since Covid-19 arrived, and how some parts of life are continuing as normal. "Like my anxiety, my survivalist mentality come and goes," he says. Clare man Brian Gleeson shares how people in Russia are reacting to the outbreak and what it is like living in a hotel during the crisis: "My wife and son are still in Copenhagen and due to the travel restrictions, we are a little stuck right now." For something unrelated to coronavirus, Nathan Mannion's Extraordinary Emigrant's article remembers the "Wine Geese". They were the Irish exiles who started new lives in the vineyards of Bordeaux and ensured a steady supply of our favourite tipples for the last three centuries.
I hope you are safe and well at this challenging time. If you would like to get in touch contact abroad@irishtimes.com.
You'll find more stories by and about the Irish diaspora on irishtimes.com/abroad. To receive this digest to your inbox each week, you can join the free Irish Times Abroad Network here.
Thank you for reading.
