EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you the five biggest stories of the day.

1. #ICELAND MODEL: Leo Varadkar has said that Ireland will extend mandatory hotel quarantine more widely in the coming weeks and will also give consideration to a dual-testing model employed in Iceland.

2. #CLOSE CONTACTS: The HSE has announced that it will start testing close contacts of confirmed cases of Covid-19 again from tomorrow.

3. #JOSH DUNNE: The family of a 16-year-old boy who died in Dublin’s north inner city on Tuesday night have paid tribute to him as a “caring, amazing boy” who was “a dreamer and a do-er”.

4. #VACCINATED: The Minister for Health has confirmed that over 160,000 vaccine doses have now been administered in Ireland, including second doses for 13,800 frontline healthcare workers.

5. #ASTRAZENECA: Germany’s vaccine commission has said it is recommending the use of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for under-65-year-olds only due to insufficient data on its effectiveness on older people.

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More

The 5 at 5 Five minutes, five stories, five o’clock…

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.