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

IRELAND

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• Hairdressers in Northern Ireland are to reopen from next Friday, while indoor pubs & restaurants from 24 May
• Fully vaccinated people are to be exempt from staying in mandatory hotel quarantine, and will instead quarantine at home 
• Tánaiste Leo Varadkar is ‘increasingly confident’ that indoor and outdoor dining will reopen during the summer
• Over 18,000 people aged 69 have registered their details with the HSE today, so they can receive an appointment for an Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine
• A further four walk-in Covid-19 test centres for asymptomatic people are opening up later this week
• Minister Roderic O’Gorman is to ban conversion therapy in Ireland and tasked officials with exploring ways to outlaw the practice in the Republic
• The winning ticket for last night’s €12.7 million Lotto jackpot was sold in Kilkenny, the National Lottery has revealed
• Gardaí have launched an investigation following the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl in Wicklow. 

WORLD

The rising sun illuminates a tree in a frosty field near Newbury. PA PA

#GEORGE FLOYD MURDER TRIAL: Former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin will not testify at his murder trial for the death of George Floyd.

#BEEB: The BBC’s coverage of the death of Prince Philip has drawn 110,000 complaints, the highest number ever published in the UK about television programming.

#WHITE HOUSE: The Biden administration announced the expulsion of 10 Russian diplomats and sanctions against nearly three dozen people and companies as it moved to hold the Kremlin accountable for interference in last year’s presidential election and the hacking of federal agencies.

PARTING SHOT

The current epidemiological situation, and today’s case numbers “are better than anything we could have hoped for two weeks ago”.

That’s what Acting Chief Medical Officer Ronan Glynn said at today’s NPHET briefing.

“We’re in a much better position than we thought we would be and that is down first and foremost to people listening to the messages and sticking with this,” said Glynn. 

“If we were at the EU average, we’d be reporting between 1,500-1,600 cases today. The public’s efforts have made an enormous difference.”

A moment to thank ourselves for the efforts we’ve all made.