Here's What Happened Today: Wednesday

No change in two metre social distancing, Cummings row rolls on and a blast off in Florida.

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

IRELAND

• Health officials have confirmed a further 17 deaths of patients diagnosed with Covid-19 and 73 new cases of the disease in Ireland.
• Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan has told Cabinet ministers he does not intend to advise that the 2 metre social distancing rule should be reduced. 
• The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council has warned that “adjustments of €6–€14 billion over 2023–2025″could be required due to the pandemic. 
• Fianna Fáil leader Mícheál Martin has said he does not agree with the 5km or the 20km travel limits under the roadmap for reopening. 
• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that the easing of restrictions may be brought forward if Covid-19 figures remain low.
• Armed gardaí swooped on a suspected South American hit team this morning which they believe had been hired to kill a senior crime figure in the Midlands.
• Aer Lingus cabin crew based at Shannon Airport are set to be temporarily laid off.
• Veteran comedian Sil Fox has walked free from court after he was cleared of sexually assaulting a woman in a bar in Dublin.
• The export of Irish beef to China has been temporarily suspended after an atypical case of BSE was identified in a cow earlier this month. 
• The family an Irish teenager who died in Australia after he fell from an apartment complex have asked the public to light a candle in his memory. 

WORLD

#DOMINIC CUMMINGS: BBC journalist Emily Maitlis has been replaced for tonight”s Newsnight episode after the broadcaster determined she ‘broke impartiality rules’ during an opening monologue about the Dominic Cummings row.

#BAILOUT: The EU Commission is proposing a €750 billion recovery fund to help the bloc’s economy through the deep recession induced by the coronavirus pandemic. The proposed package consists of €500 billion in grants and €250 billion in loans. 

#NEW ZEALAND: Two hikers were rescued after 18 days in the New Zealand wilderness after getting lost in fog and exhausting their food supply.

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PARTING SHOT

A SpaceX rocket is due to blast off at 9.33pm Irish time, bringing two Nasa astronauts to the International Space Station. It’s a historic first first for a privately-owned company and the first crewed mission to blast off from US soil in almost a decade.