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

IRELAND 

Sonia O'Sullivan in front of a mural of Olympic Rower Sanita Puspure in Cork city. Leon Farrell Leon Farrell

• Public health officials confirmed 1,189 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.
• Some retail workers claimed that they are being docked pay or have to stay back late to ‘pay back’ the time taken to get their Covid-19 vaccine during a work shift.
• More than 80% of adults in Ireland now have at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine.
• Bank of Ireland agreed to buy most of Davy Group for €440 million.
• The first ‘tropical night’ in 20 years was recorded in Ireland last night. 
• A woman and two men died in separate drowning incidents on lakes in counties Cavan, Leitrim and Fermanagh.
• All of the holidaymakers who flew from Dublin to Malta and were forced into mandatory quarantine after their HSE vaccine cards were not accepted have now been issued with Digital Covid Certificates.
• Around one-third of Covid-19 cases over the last two weeks have been in those aged under 13.
• The government’s ‘Housing For All’ plan will now not be published until at least the end of next month.
• The case against two prominent politicians and two hoteliers over their alleged role in organising a controversial golf dinner during Covid-19 restrictions last summer was adjourned until October.

THE WORLD

People passing by the Olympic rings in Tokyo, Japan earlier today. Xinhua News Agency / PA Images Xinhua News Agency / PA Images / PA Images

#BREXIT: EU chief Ursula von der Leyen rejected Boris Johnson’s plea to renegotiate the post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland after a phone call with the Prime Minister.

#SKETCH: The show director for the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony was fired on the eve of the event over a decades-old skit referencing the Holocaust.

#COURTS: Tommy Robinson lost a libel case brought against him by a Syrian schoolboy who was filmed being attacked at school. 

PARTING SHOT

You may have heard some talk about a so-called ‘pingdemic’ in the UK at the moment. 

It refers to a ‘ping’ received from the NHS version of the Covid tracker app which tells people if they’ve been in close contact with a confirmed case of Covid-19.

It also tells people to self-isolate for a specified period of time after they have been ‘pinged’. 

A lot of people in the UK have recently contracted Covid-19 and the story dominated the front pages of most of the UK’s newspapers today with concerns growing about the economic impacts of so many people needing to self-isolate.

Our reporter Ian Curran took a look at the finer details of the ‘pingdemic’. You can read the full piece here. 

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