EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #MISINFORMATION: Today and tomorrow, TheJournal.ie is publishing a series of articles exploring how misinformation exploded in Ireland in recent months.

2. #LOCKDOWN: In one of the articles we confirm that the Defence Forces conducted an investigation over fears one of its members was behind a WhatsApp voice note purporting to contain confidential information about an alleged lockdown.

3. #NURSES: Another article explores how a false claim that four nurses had died due to the virus sent the rumour mill into overdrive.

4. #PLANDEMIC: Today’s fourth article examines how a YouTube video about coronavirus racked up almost one million views before it was taken down.

5. #HOSPITALS: More than 600,000 people in Ireland are waiting for a first hospital outpatient consultation in public hospitals, new figures show.

6. #LOCAL RESTRICTIONS: The government has announced a package of measures for businesses in Kildare, Laois and Offaly, which have taken a hit by the new local restrictions announced last week.

7. #LEAVING CERT: What insight did we get about the Leaving Cert Calculated Grades process after the furore in the UK? There has been concern from the start about ‘standardising’ grades – this has been somewhat vindicated this week.

8. #BELARUS: Tens of thousands of people flooded the heart of the Belarus capital Minsk yesterday in a show of anger over a brutal police crackdown on peaceful protesters that followed a disputed election, as authorities sought to ease rising public fury by freeing at least 2,000 who were jailed after earlier demonstrations.

9. #SURVIVING R KELLY: R Kelly’s manager Donnell Russell has been arrested on charges that he threatened a shooting at a Manhattan cinema two years ago, forcing an evacuation and the cancellation of the screening of a documentary addressing allegations that the singer sexually abused women and girls.

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