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

1. #WELFARE STATE: More than half a million people are now claiming the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, meaning that 700,000 people are now claiming some kind of unemployment benefit in Ireland.

2. #RESTRICTIONS: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has warned that there are risks to lifting Covid-19 restrictions on a county-by-county basis, following suggestions about the possibility of this happening in the media over the weekend.

3. #SUPERMARKET SWEEP: Irish retailers experienced the busiest month of grocery sales “ever recorded” in March due to unprecedented levels of demand fueled by the coronavirus, new figures show.

4. #ULSTER SAYS NO: The Orange Order has announced that the North’s annual Twelfth of July parades have been cancelled for the first time since the Second World War due to coronavirus.

5. #UK: Boris Johnson remains in hospital under observation but had a “comfortable” night after being admitted last night with persistent coronavirus symptoms.

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