Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster has urged the British Prime Minister to replace the Northern Ireland protocol after the EU announced plans to trigger Article 16 to bring about new monitoring controls on exports of Covid-19 vaccines.

Health Service Executive CEO Paul Reid has said the number of people in hospitals with Covid-19 has reduced to 1,488 although ICUs "will remain close to their limits for some time yet".

There were sighs of relief around Government Buildings as approval came through for the one vaccine it has hailed as a game changer.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued  an order requiring the use of face masks on nearly all forms of public transportation from Monday as the country continues to report thousands of daily Covid-19 deaths.

Whatever we do now to defeat this pandemic needs to be bold, ambitious, and injected with strong leadership, writes Health Correspondent Fergal Bowers.

The head of the World Health Organization has warned against "vaccine nationalism", saying there was a "real danger that the very tools that could help to end the pandemic - vaccines - may exacerbate" global inequality.

Italy has announced an easing of coronavirus restrictions in most of its regions, despite warnings from public health experts that such a move may be rash.

There has been a bit of Strangelove over the national debt since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

Technology has been a lifeline for many during lockdown, enabling us to keep in touch with family and friends.

Dundalk Circuit Court has heard how a man who was uninsured and driving at more than 225km/h recorded a video of the high speed he was travelling at in the minutes before a fatal crash.

France is to close its borders to non-European Union countries for all except essential travel, while stepping back from a widely anticipated third lockdown.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has met a group representing workers who moderate content for Facebook, but who are not directly employed by the company.

A further 48 coronavirus-related deaths and 1,254 new cases of the disease have been notified to the Department of Health.

Europe's medicines regulator has recommended approving the AstraZeneca / Oxford University Covid-19 vaccine for people over the age of 18.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has paid tribute to RTÉ's Tommie Gorman who is retiring from the organisation after 41 years.

Greenhouse gas emissions fell in Ireland because of the pandemic, a new study shows, dramatic declines in economic activity and transport in 2020.

Friday evenings, 5pm, fast became the most popular time of the week for people living on a quiet residential street in a London suburb during last summer's lockdown.

Experts from the World Health Organization visited a Wuhan hospital today as the fieldwork began in a closely watched coronavirus origins probe that will take in a food market presumed to be "ground zero" of the pandemic.

Fianna Fáil's Justice Spokesman has called on the Government to quickly amend the Children Act, describing the prohibition of naming a child once someone has been charged with an offence relating to that child as "an absurdity".

The EU will not trigger the Article 16 safeguard clause of the Northern Ireland Protocol over the exporting of Covid-19 vaccines, a statement from the Commission has confirmed.