Updated Jun 2, 2018

Ireland seeks to repeal school baptism law

Schoolchildren arrive at a shrine in Tuam, County Galway. Photo: PAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images

Ireland is taking on another battle with the Catholic church after the country voted to repeal a long-standing abortion law last week. The New York Times reports that Ireland is seeking to end "a provision that gives preference in most of the country’s elementary schools to children who have been baptized."

The state of play: Right now, 90% of the country's public schools are owned by the Roman Catholic Church, giving non-Catholic families very few options for their child's education. Under the proposed bill, which was approved by the parliament's lower house this week, "Catholic elementary schools would be barred from discriminating in favor of children of their own 'religious ethos.'"

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U.S. coronavirus updates

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios. This graphic includes "probable deaths" that New York City began reporting on April 14.

More than 62,300 U.S. health care workers have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and at least 291 have died from the virus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Tuesday. COVID-19 had infected about 9,300 health professionals when the CDC gave its last update on April 17.

By the numbers: More than 98,900 people have died from COVID-19 and over 1.6 million have tested positive in the U.S. Over 384,900 Americans have recovered and more than 14.9 million tests have been conducted.

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  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 11:00 p.m. ET: 5,589,626 — Total deaths: 350,453 — Total recoveries — 2,286,956 — Map.
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World coronavirus updates

Data: The Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins; Map: Axios Visuals

There are no COVID-19 patients in hospital in New Zealand, which reported just 21 active cases after days of zero new infections. A top NZ health official said Tuesday he's "confident we have broken the chain of domestic transmission."

By the numbers: Almost 5.5 million people have tested positive for the novel coronavirus as of Tuesday, and more than 2.2 million have recovered. The U.S. has reported the most cases in the world (over 1.6 million from 14.9 million tests).

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