Northern Ireland Ministers to discuss tightening of Covid 19 restrictions

over 4 years in The Irish Times

Ministers in Northern Ireland are to meet on Monday evening to discuss introducing further restrictions to limit the spread of coronavirus.
The meeting of the Northern Executive, which was due to take place on Tuesday, has been brought forward because of concerns over the increasing number of cases.
The North’s chief medical officer, Dr Michael McBride, told the BBC that Ministers would consider whether more restrictions were needed, but said a “significant” number of restrictions were already in place.
“There are not many more restrictions that remain open to us, so it’s a combination of restrictions but also, most importantly of all – following the advice and abiding by those restrictions,” he said.
Northern Ireland entered a fresh lockdown on St Stephen’s Day, which is due to remain in place until at least the end of January. Non-essential retail is closed and school teaching has been moved online for most pupils for the next week.
The North’s First and Deputy First Ministers are also due to take part in a call with the UK’s cabinet secretary, Michael Gove, and the leaders of the other devolved nations ahead of a televised address by the British prime minister, Boris Johnson.
Mr Johnson is to outline new emergency measures to control the spread of Covid-19 in England. In Scotland, the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, announced on Monday that a lockdown will be in place until the end of January, with schools closed to most pupils until February.
In Northern Ireland a further 1,801 people tested positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, the North’s Department of Health said on Monday, with a total of 12,507 new cases identified in the last seven days.
A further 12 people with coronavirus died, bringing the total number of fatalities reported by the Department to 1,366.
‘Extreme pressures’
Dr McBride said the number of cases was “very deeply troubling”, demonstrating that the health service was going to come under “extreme pressures” in the coming weeks.
The SDLP has tabled a motion calling for the recall of the North’s Assembly to discuss the increasing number of Covid-19 cases and urging the First and Deputy First Ministers to take “immediate action” and introduce new measures to limit the spread of the virus.
Meanwhile, the first doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine were administered in Northern Ireland on Monday.
The first person in the over-80 category to receive the vaccine was 94-year-old Eileen Lynch, who gave the thumbs up as she was vaccinated by Dr Michael McKenna at her local GP surgery on the Falls Road in west Belfast.
Ms Lynch said she was “delighted and privileged” to receive the vaccine and thanked the nurses, doctors and staff who she said had all been “brilliant”.
“I feel like I can really look forward to the year ahead now that I have been vaccinated,” she said.
A total of 50,000 doses of the vaccine have been made available in the North, with more due to arrive this month.
Priority is being given to the over-80s, and it is estimated that all of this age group will have received the vaccine by the end of the month.
About 40,000 people have already received the Pfizer/BioNtech vaccine in Northern Ireland.

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