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

IRELAND

A mural showing Dr Tony Holohan has appeared on Devitts Pub in Dublin today. Source: RollingNews.ie

• Health officials have confirmed a further 10 deaths of patients with Covid-19 and 426 new cases of the disease in Ireland.
• Letters published today show the HSE expressed concern over last month’s announcement by the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) that testing for Covid-19 would be significantly expanded to cover 100,000 suspected cases a week.
• Delaying the resumption of non-Covid-19 care is a matter of “life and death”, according to Labour leader Alan Kelly.
• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he is “increasingly confident” that Ireland will be able to move to Phase One of the government’s roadmap for lifting restrictions on Monday.
• Unions have called for the government to “go back to the drawing board” and develop another scheme to help healthcare workers with childcare costs.
• The HSE is aiming to have a 90% end-to-end turnaround time of three days on testing and contact tracing for Covid-19 positive cases by Monday, chief executive Paul Reid has said.
• The UK government today confirmed that the spouses of those living in Northern Ireland can now apply for official European residence permits following a change in the immigration policy.
• An automated text messaging system to inform people of negative Covid-19 results is expected to be in place at the end of this week. 
• A long-awaited report into past cases of abuse in Scouting Ireland has found that there was a “cover up” and a “failure to report”.

WORLD

Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) with mask, looks on as President Donald Trump makes remarks during a meeting with North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (R) in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Source: Pool/ABACA

#CHINA US Authorities have claimed that Chinese hackers are attempting to steal data on Covid-19 treatments and vaccines.

#BIG PHARMA Vaccinating 3.7 billion people, the poorest half of the global population, against Covid-19 could cost less than the amount of money made by the 10 biggest pharmaceutical companies in four months, Oxfam has said.

#TENSION Brussels has launched legal action against the UK for its “failure to comply” with European Union rules on free movement.

PARTING SHOT

On 27 April, a national alert was issued in the UK for healthcare professionals, warning them about potential links between a life-threatening syndrome being seen in children, and Covid-19.

But what is this syndrome, how is it linked to Kawasaki Syndrome – and how could it be connected to Covid-19? That’s what we’re looking at in this week’s episode of The Explainer. Our reporter Sean Murray gives presenter Sinéad O’Carroll the most up-to-date information on what we know about the syndrome, and what Irish medical experts have to say.  

Source: The Explainer/SoundCloud