No new Covid-19 deaths reported in past day, Dominic Cummings defends trip to Durham: Today's Covid-19 main points

Discussion this week is likely to be focused on the further easing of restrictions ahead of 8 June.

TODAY HAS BEEN largely dominated by the ongoing Dominic Cummings crisis in the UK with the front pages giving their reaction to Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s backing of his top adviser. 

Cummings’ flouting of lockdown rules by making a trip from London to Durham in April sparked outrage in the UK this weekend with Johnson yesterday backing Cummings but refusing to take questions over his top aide’s actions. 

Here in Ireland, meanwhile, there were no new deaths from the virus confirmed today along with 59 new cases. This brings Ireland’s total to 1,606 Covid-19 related deaths, and a total of 24,698 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

Discussions this week are likely to be focused on the further easing of restrictions on 8 June with several TDs calling for the two-metre social distancing rule to be reduced to one metre. 

Here are today’s Covid-19 main points:

• There have been no new deaths reported from Covid-19 in the past day for the first time since mid-March. 
• The government continues to face calls to halve the social distancing policy to one metre, with TDs joining those who are asking for a review of the rules.
• The decline in household spending caused by the Covid-19 pandemic could reduce indirect tax revenue this year by more than one-fifth, according to a new study published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
• The Irish Hairdressers Federation will present a number of recommendations to the government that they say could allow salons to open early.
• A study by University College Cork has said that Greater Dublin and provincial towns are best-placed to deal with the post-Covid economic crisis due to remote working options and ability to socially distance within sectors. 
• Ireland’s health watchdog received multiple allegations of outsiders entering nursing homes during the first two months of the Covid-19 outbreak despite visiting restrictions.
• Payments worth over €202 million have been sent to 579,400 people for the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment. This is 5,200 fewer people than the same point last week. 33,400 people will be receiving their last payment this week. 
• Significant changes to the eligibility for the Rent Supplement payment have not been published by the government despite growing concerns of a possible spike in evictions in coming months. 
• The research team at the Mater Dei Centre for Catholic Education, in partnership with York St John University, is conducting a new study into the effect of the current pandemic on churches, religion and faith in Ireland. 
• The PSNI are patrolling local beauty spots, beaches, and parks in Northern Ireland in order to enforce Covid-19 measures on the UK’s bank holiday.
• The government is to ask the public to share photos of their garden in an effort to promote the food, drink and horticulture industry in Ireland.

Here are today’s international Covid-19 points: 

• The UK front pages have given their reaction this morning to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s backing of top aide Dominic Cummings after he flouted lockdown rules in April. 
• At a press conference last night, Johnson said that Cummings acted “legally, responsibly and with integrity”, and that his movements were ”sensible and defensible”. 
• Cummings gave a statement to media on his trip to Durham at the end of March while suffering with Covid-19 symptoms, saying ““I don’t regret what I did”. 
• The UK Government, meanwhile, said it had launched an investigation into a critical tweet sent from the UK Civil Service official account minutes after Johnson backed Cummings. 
• Greece has restarted regular ferry services to its islands with cafés and restaurants also back open for business.
• Japan is set to remove a coronavirus state of emergency from Tokyo and four other prefectures today. 
• The United States has said it is prohibiting non-US citizens from travelling to the country if they had been in Brazil in the last two weeks. 
• China has said that relations with the United States are “on the brink of a new Cold War” fuelled in part by tensions over the coronavirus pandemic

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