Beannachtai na Feile Padraig oraibh [Happy St. Patrick s Day], William began the couple s message. We re delighted to wish you all a very Happy St. Patrick s Day, Kate continued. How come you got that easy bit? William cheekily quipped in response. Like so many celebrations over the past year,
coronavirus pandemic, people who are marking the holiday around the world won t be able to spend time with their friends and family. The
COVID-19 in their address and how they were able to
visit Ireland in 2020, just before the coronavirus was declared a pandemic and much of the world went into lockdown.
The
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge spoke with medical, charity and voluntary staff from across the Commonwealth, and their conversations highlighted a cause that s important to them both: The intersections of the pandemic and mental health. Kate and William had video calls with
Dr. Zolelwa Sifumba from South Africa,
Faysal Islam from Bangladesh and
Heidy Quah from Malaysia to hear about how the
coronavirus pandemic has affected front-line health-care workers there and what challenges it has given their mental well-being. Zolelwa said prior to the pandemic, front-line staff were also exposed to occupational illnesses. She had a personal experience with multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis as a medical student. But COVID-19 has posed new challenges, and she said it s important for communities to give health care workers as much support as possible.