NEED TO CATCH up? The Journal brings you a round-up of today’s news.

IRELAND

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• 20,554 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Ireland today and a new PCR regime was announced.
• The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has called for all activity except urgent care to be curtailed in public hospitals as capacity issues mount, with 287 patients on trolleys in hospitals around the country today.
• The National Ambulance Service (NAS) is officially at capacity, getting a rare Level 3 capacity warning, as the HSE confirmed it is looking to external providers to fill the gap in the system. 
• The number of donkeys needing to be rescued in Ireland is rising, leaving charity Donkey Sanctuary Ireland “bursting at the seams”.
• The Irish Coast Guard recorded a 12% increase in callouts in the past year.
• More than 1,800 people were restrained or secluded by mental health services in 2020, according to a new report published by the Mental Health Commission.
• Some 80% of people in Ireland believe that people with less money generally get worse outcomes in legal challenges, according to new research.

INTERNATIONAL

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#RUSSIA: The Russian government has declared members of the Pussy Riot band, and prominent satirist Viktor Shenderovich “foreign agents” amid a crackdown on dissent.

#UK: England is building temporary hospitals to deal with a potential overspill of inpatients amid surging virus cases piling pressure on the country’s health service.

#US: Officials in Richmond, Virginia, today announced plans to transfer ownership of the city’s Confederate monuments to the Black History Museum and Cultural Centre of Virginia.

#CHINA: Players in China’s national football team should remove any existing tattoos and are “strictly prohibited” from getting any new ones, the country’s sports administration body has said.

PARTING SHOT

And finally, the Dalkey mystery of the Prussian Princess and her missing jewels. Recently released materials from the National Archives have brought to light a decades-old story of Princess Christa of Prussia, who was robbed at gunpoint while having dinner with friends in Dalkey in 1978. Family jewels worth about 38,195 in Deutsche Marks (roughly €77,000 today) were stolen and never recovered. The incident prompted the princess to write to then-President Patrick Hillery, asking for assistance.