That's all for today folks.

We will leave you with this lovely photo of a quiet Ballyholme Beach in Bangor, County Down, sent to us by Katrina Jay.

We'll see you tomorrow at 07:30 for all the latest developments in coronavirus in NI and beyond. Bye for now.

Image source, Katrina Jay

The Irish Minister for Transport has said a mandatory quarantine is not possible to enforce for those entering Ireland, however, he said that stricter control measures will be introduced.

Eamon Ryan said there will be an electronic register and testing of some travellers.

Image source, RTE

He told RTÉ's Today with Sarah McInerney, that the advice remains to "stay in Ireland" and not to travel abroad in the interests of public health.

He said the authorities need to remain vigilant and continue to adapt, monitor and review the situation as more people start flying.

He said if the number of cases of Covid-19 rise as a result of international travel "we will have to tighten restrictions".

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Brian Tierney will host a special reception in August where pupils who finished Primary Seven in June can celebrate and say goodbye to their former classmates.

"Primary school is such an important stage of every child's life and they all deserve an opportunity to look back on that time with the friends they have made along the way before they start a new chapter," he said.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't possible for the Class of 2020 across our district to celebrate at the end of the school year."

The special event is open to all pupils across the council area.

Mr Tierney said he hopes the event will allow young people to "all come together one last time in a safe way".

To register interest in the event the council asks you to email -mayor@derryandstrabane.com before 31 July.

GAA clubs have been told to formally complain to Croke Park if they have evidence county squads are training in advance of 14 September.

The GAA's return-to-play regulations has laid down that club action is to take precedence for the summer months.

County squads are not supposed to train until 14 September with competitive county action resuming in mid-October.

The GAA has now sent an email to clubs urging them to report breaches of the training regulations by county squads.

"If a club has a grievance in relation to the availability of their county players, or feel a county team in their county are holding collective training sessions before 14 September, they are encouraged to submit a formal complaint to Croke Park," stated the Croke Park email.

Read the story here.

Image source, Pacemaker

West Belfast's annual festival - Féile an Phobail - is going virtual this year.

The 32nd annual Féile, was officially launched online on Monday night.

It's billed as the biggest community arts festival in Ireland and more than 100 online events scheduled between 30 July and 9 August.

"You can relax safely at home and still enjoy what Féile has to offer," said festival director Kevin Gamble.

"Virtual Féile will show our love of arts, sport, music and culture, and will be a display of the adaptability, imagination and resilience of this wonderful community.

“We want to give everyone a Féile to enjoy and be part of, while also ensuring we keep people safe."

Among those taking part at this year's féile is social critic and political activist Noam Chomsky and economist and former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis.

Both will be reflecting on how the pandemic has changed our world.

Image source, Pacemaker

Image source, PA Media

Speaking in the NI Assembly, Health Minister Robin Swann says his department is taking forward the test, trace and protect strategy which was published in May.

He says it has been a priority for him over the last number of months.

An app is thought to be a few weeks away, but the Republic of Ireland launched one today.

Mr Swann says there are currently 92 contact tracers who “work over a seven day week rotation”.

“The more contacts, the more positive cases we have, the more pressure they come under,” he adds.

The minister says they can “trace five contacts in a day” on average.

City of Derry Airport's flight schedule is to increase from this week.

The first Loganair Glasgow service returned to the Londonderry runway on Monday, it is currently available two days-a-week and will increase to four days at the end of July.

LoganAir's London Stansted service is also increasing in frequency and the airport will also see Ryanair's Liverpool and Edinburgh services continuing.

You can now visit relatives and friends in care homes and the Department of Health has published guidance on how to do this.

So before you set off to see someone cast your eye over the guidelines.

In the Republic of Ireland, a Covid-19 tracker app has been downloaded by more than 350,000 people since it went live on Tuesday, RTÉ reports.

The Irish Department of Health and the Health Service Executive launched the app to help identify close contacts of people who test positive for coronavirus.

HSE Chief Executive Officer Paul Reid said the app can mean a reduction in the time it takes to trace close contacts from days to hours.

The app identifies a close contact as someone who was within two metres of a confirmed case for 15 minutes or more.

Health officials would like to see a 60% uptake of the app among the target population.

It is understood that this app will work across all of Ireland, but it is not currently active in Northern Ireland.

Earlier, we were focusing on the issue of funerals during lockdown.

A funeral director has spoken passionately about the pain of missed funerals.

William Miller was speaking in response to the controversy about the attendance of Sinn Féin members, including Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill, at the funeral of Bobby Storey.

"There have been mistakes made everywhere. I’ve made mistakes, councils have made mistakes, politicians have made mistakes," he told the BBC's Nolan Show this morning.

Image source, Pacemaker

"But the bereaved, the people that we care for, the deceased who we care for, I don’t think the planning for this pandemic in relation to funerals was right from the beginning.

"I’m not defending anybody, what I’m saying is it was wrong. Loved ones need that closure, they didn’t get it."

Mr Miller said people should "take the plank out of their own eye before they condemn anyone else".

"Because ultimately the bereaved were denied in all respects the funerals that they wanted throughout this pandemic and that is really sad," he said.

During the pandemic, a total of 116,146 individuals have been tested for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland, according to the Department of Health.

The number who have tested positve stands at 5,761.

In the last seven days, 26 people have tested positive.

The statistics also show that two new cases were recorded in Lisburn and Castlereagh in the past 24 hours, one case was recorded in Antrim and Newtownabbey, one case in Mid and East Antrim and one in Mid-Ulster.

A total of 14 people are currently in hospital with Covid-19 but none of them are being treated in intensive care.

There have been no new hospital admissions over the last two days.

There have been no new Covid-19 related deaths recorded by Northern Ireland’s Department of Health in the last 24 hours, meaning its death toll remains at 554.

The department’s daily figures are mostly comprised of hospital deaths and where a patient had previously tested positive for the virus.

The latest figures on the department’s dashboard show the total number of confirmed positive cases of the virus now stands at 5,761, with five new positive tests recorded in the past 24 hours.

Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent

Earlier, we reported the news that a potentially worrying cluster of coronavirus cases has been identified in County Down and we understand they are in Ballynahinch and Crossgar.

But the NI Public Health Agency (PHA) wouldn't confirm the exact locations.

If you look on the dashboard, it does indicate a rise in the number of cases in that area.

People want to act responsibly, and we're seeing very, very small lockdowns happening - where the one care home is still staying in lockdown as well as a couple of cafes in the area. It's nothing to be ashamed of.

But, it was the public who gave us this information. It wasn't the authorities.

Image source, PA Media

It is a good indication the virus is still very much out there. We keep saying: "Keep washing your hands, keep socially distancing" and you do sound like a broken record after a while, but here's the evidence.

Here's the proof. We do know that people have been testing positive over the last couple of weeks and numbers have reduced drastically, which is a really, really good sign.

But whenever you get these little clusters that shows you just how infectious it is.

Easing lockdown has been great but let's face it, but this is a stark reminder as to all of us that this is not over.

East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson has urged people not to take the controversy over the Sinn Féin leadership's attendance at Bobby Storey's funeral as an excuse to think they can do whatever they want.

Appealing particularly to people considering taking part in Eleventh night bonfire celebrations he said: "Do not fall into that trap.

"Do not shift the focus from where it should lie and that is very squarely against those that breach the coronavirus regulations and recognise that this is serious and there are still consequences for not adhering to public health advice."

Mr Robinson added: "Whilst I recognise the huge frustration from last week and also recognise that there are those who say we will try to manage any bonfire celebration that we wish to have, I think it is going to be incredibly difficult.

"And the consequences of getting it wrong in public health terms, never mind political terms, are not helpful and hugely regrettable."

Concerns are growing around the potential for large-scale bonfires taking place on the Eleventh of July in the midst of a pandemic.

SDLP South Belfast MP Claire Hanna tells Radio Ulster's Talkback that everyone in Northern Ireland has had their lives curtailed this year.

"Bonfire builders can't say this is our tradition; we've all had our traditions and our cultural expressions interrupted," she says.

"What we can't allow to happen is to sectarianise Covid like we have sectarianised everything else over the decades and to spiral into a tit for tat as in, you know, 'Well, them ones did it, so we're going to do it.'

"That's what really worries people about Northern Ireland society."

Belfast City Council has strongly denied allegations 61 people attended republican Bobby Storey's cremation.

The claim was made by Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Belfast city councillor Jim Rodgers.

Yesterday, the council apologised over how it dealt with Mr Storey's family at Roselawn Crematorium on 30 June compared to other families.

Image source, pacemaker

Earlier, Justice Minister Naomi Long said she hopes Michelle O'Neill will recognise "the harm done to the executive's reputation" by her attendance at the ex-IRA leader's funeral.

The assembly is due to debate a motion calling on the deputy first minister and Finance Minister Conor Murphy to apologise for attending.

It is signed by every party in the executive but Sinn Féin.

Ms O'Neill apologised "for grieving families experiencing more hurt" but insisted she did not break social distancing guidelines.

Read more.

Image source, PA Media

The managing director of Belfast International Airport has said the government's decision to leave out NI and other regions from its announcement over quarantine-free travel is deeply "disappointing and frustrating".

Health measures like quarantine are set by each UK nation separately.

At present, Northern Ireland will still quarantine travellers arriving from outside the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

Graham Keddie hit out the NI executive over its "silence" on the matter.

"The simple truth is that Northern Ireland’s omission leaves hundreds of jobs at risk at a time when the travel and tourism industry needs to see leadership and support from government," he said.

"This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency in order to save jobs and save our connectivity,” he added.

Plans are in place to begin reopening Northern Ireland's libraries as part of a pilot scheme announced by Libraries NI.

A "book and collect service" will be offered to customers by 90 libraries from 20 July.

People will be able to order a collection of books via telephone and arrange for contactless collection.

All libraries in Northern Ireland closed on 20 March due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Also, as part of the pilot scheme, five libraries will fully reopen for book browsing and limited IT access at the end of the month.

Read more here.

Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent

Image source, Reuters

The BBC understands that a number of people from several families have tested positive for Covid-19 in County Down.

The cluster of cases are located in Ballynahinch and Crossgar and it’s thought up to 16 people could be affected.

Health authorities including the Public Health Agency are reminding the public to contact them if they are experiencing symptoms so that measures including track and trace can be implemented as quickly as possible.

Anyone with symptoms can apply for a test to see if they have coronavirus.

Getting tested - and then tracing people's contacts - is considered vital to enable health experts to contain local outbreaks.

Can I get tested?

Tests are now available to all adults and most children in the UK with a fever, a new continuous cough or a loss of smell or taste.

In Northern Ireland, external anyone over the age of five with symptoms can get tested.

The tests are generally the same for children and adults.

Image source, PA Media

How does the test work?

This test to see if you currently have the virus involves taking a swab up the nose and the back of the throat.

This can be done by the person themselves or someone else.

But these tests won't show if you have had Covid-19 in the past.

Antibody tests - which do look for evidence of past exposure - use blood samples.

The UK now has capacity for about 80,000 antibody tests a day, but these are only offered to health and care , externalstaff and should only be carried out by a healthcare professional.

Read more about tests.