The Chief Executive of the HSE has said that as of last night there are 171 patients in hospital with Covid-19 and this represents a "steady rise in hospitalisations".

A Belarusian athlete who refused to board a flight home after she said she was taken to the airport by her team against her will was "safe and secure" in Tokyo, the International Olympic Committee said today.

Australia's Queensland state has extended a Covid-19 lockdown in Brisbane, while soldiers began patrolling Sydney to enforce stay-at-home rules as the country struggles to stop the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus spreading.

Oliver Dingley dives in the men's 3m springboard competition following exits in the athletics heats Ciara Mageean, Sarah Healy and Phil Healy.

Millions of people were confined to their homes in China today as the country tried to contain its largest coronavirus outbreak in months with mass testing and travel curbs.

A motorist has died following a road crash in Clogheen, Co Tipperary.

There were emotional scenes outside Dublin Airport today as the Irish Olympic rowing team returned home from Tokyo with their gold and bronze medals.

Nearly 300 firefighters, two water bomber planes and five helicopters are battling to put out a forest fire in Greece while in Turkey firefighters are battling to control wildfires still raging in the resort towns of Manavgat and Marmaris.

As well as chronic food shortages in Lebanon there are also severe difficulties accessing clean water, electricity and education as the country buckles under continuing problems.

Thousands of anti-lockdown demonstrators defied a court-ordered protest ban today and gathered in the streets of Berlin, resulting in scuffles with police.

Pfizer and Moderna have raised the prices of their Covid-19 vaccines in the latest European Union supply contracts, according to a report in The Financial Times today.

The Department of Health has confirmed 1,098 new cases of Covid-19.

Thirteen Covid-19 deaths have been reported in Northern Ireland over the weekend.

YouTube has barred Sky News Australia from uploading new content for one week, citing concerns about Covid-19 misinformation.

Afghan government forces struggled against Taliban assaults on several major cities today as the insurgents stepped up a nationwide offensive that saw a key airport in the south come under rocket fire overnight.

Chinese cities have rolled out mass testing of millions of people and imposed fresh travel restrictions as health authorities battled to contain the country's most widespread coronavirus outbreak in months.

A 19-year-old man has died and another teenager is being treated in hospital following a collision involving two motorbikes and a car in Dublin last night.

Ireland's Rhys McClenaghan, who had topped the qualifying standings alongside Chinese Taipei's Chih Kai Lee, suffered huge disappointment in the Olympic pommel horse final as he came off the apparatus early in his routine and finished seventh.

The Bishop of Raphoe, which encompasses much of Donegal, Alan McGuckian has recommended that the parishes can proceed with holy communions and confirmations from the middle of August in his diocese.

Food delivery and taxi-hailing companies in the UK are to offer discounted lifts and meals for customers who get a Covid-19 jab to help boost vaccine uptake, the British government has announced.