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

Ireland

Sam Boal Sam Boal

• The National Public Heath Emergency Team has recorded 28 more deaths and an additional 3,955 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland.
• The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 continues to rise, with over 1,750 patients currently receiving treatment.
• The HSE has said that 77,303 people – 1.58% of the population – have received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.
• Public health doctors who were due to strike today, have said that it is “difficult” to see how industrial action can be avoided
• Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said that if the AstraZeneca vaccine is approved on 29 January, there could be 100,000 vaccines administered a week by February.
• The government has said that schools will reopen for children with special needs from 21 January.
• Gardaí have issued 29 fines so far this week to people who have breached travel restrictions, including 3 to a group who travelled 80km to pick up takeaway burgers.
• The CSO has released data showing that the week before Christmas was the busiest week for people moving outside of the 10km radius from their homes.
• Survivors of mother and baby homes have been told that they can request a full paper copy of the report if they want to read it.
• Minister for Education Norma Foley has said that the Leaving Cert will have “additional choice” this year, but the length of exams will not change.
• The government is planning “some form of honorarium” for the volunteers who have been working throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.

International

Illusionists Siegfried Fischbacher, left, and Roy Horn. PA Images PA Images

#CAPITOL RIOTS Hundreds of people are expected to be arrested in connection with the storming of the US Capitol building last week, with 70 people having been charged already.

#RACING PIDGEON Australian authorities are planning to kill a pigeon that survived a 12,800-kilometre journey across the Pacific Ocean, as it has been deemed a quarantine risk.

#FISCHBACHER Illusionist Siegfried Fischbacher, the surviving member of the duo Siegfried and Roy, has died in Las Vegas age 81. 

Parting Shot

After all the commotion in the US yesterday, after President Donald Trump became the first President to be impeached twice, why not cool it down a little with something more lighthearted.

CNN CNN

A correction from an article by CNN, which told the story of how the impeachment proceedings began the day the Capitol riots broke out, blew up on social media and other news outlets after a reporter mistakenly heard that Rep. Ted Lieu had grabbed a crowbar.

It was later corrected to show that he grabbed a ProBar energy bar, rather than the aforementioned crowbar.