LAST UPDATE | 12 Apr 2021

EVERY MORNING, The Journal brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #RESTRICTIONS Some Covid-19 restrictions around travel, schools and outdoor meetings are being loosened from today – here’s what you need to know.

2. #CORONAVIRUS Public health officials confirmed 303 new Covid-19 cases and two deaths in the latest update yesterday afternoon.

3. #HOTEL QUARANTINE Travellers to Ireland from Israel, Albana and St Lucia who arrived while the countries were on the mandatory hotel quarantine list can now leave their hotels and quarantine at home instead.

4. #SCHOOLS Ireland’s largest teaching union has called for “vigilance” as schools prepare to fully reopen today.

5. #VACCINE BOUNCE Almost two-third of people believe Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s handling of the pandemic has been poor, polling by Red C on behalf of The Journal shows.

6. #RESCUE OPERATION Four people were found dead yesterday in a makeshift boat carrying 23 migrants near Spain’s Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa, with 19 hospitalised.

7. #NUCLEAR PLANT Iran believes that Israel was behind a cyberattack on its Natanz uranium enrichment plant and has vowed to take “revenge”.

8. #GOLF Ireland’s Shane Lowry fired a 72 in his final round of the US Masters yesterday.

9. #GERMANY Two German conservatives have declared that they are willing to run as the candidate from Angela Merkel’s party in the race to replace her as Chancellor.