Covid-19 restrictions relaxed

By PA

The Northern Ireland Executive has agreed a series of relaxations to Covid-19 restrictions.

From tomorrow, the requirement to remain seated and the limit of six per table at hospitality venues will be removed.

The cap on the number of households meeting inside domestic settings will be removed from the same date.

The requirement to provide proof of exemption from wearing face coverings will also be removed from tomorrow, and the guidance on working from home will revert to working from home where you can.

The Stormont Executive has also agreed that nightclubs will be permitted to open from noon on Wednesday January 26.

From the same date, dancing and indoor standing events can resume, and in workplaces the requirement for offices to take reasonable measures for two-metre social distancing will also be removed.

The legal requirement for Covid certification will continue in nightclubs and indoor unseated or partially seated events with 500 or more.

For other settings the certification will no longer be required but its use encouraged.

Remaining Covid restrictions in Northern Ireland will be reviewed by the Stormont Executive on February 10.

These include the legal duty on retail to take reasonable measures to reduce the risk of transmission, the legal requirement to wear face coverings and the legal requirement for risk assessments in prescribed settings.

They also include the legal requirement for recording visitor information in prescribed settings, the remaining legal requirements in relation to Covid certification, and guidance on the use of lateral flow testing in particular before meeting others.

Michelle O’Neill said Northern Ireland has passed the peak of Omicron cases.

“There was probably 18,000 cases per day at a point over the last number of weeks, we have had very high levels of cases but we are past that peak in terms of both case numbers but also, crucially, hospital admissions, and I think that’s an important factor,” she said.

“All of our decisions today are based on the best scientific and medical advice that we have so I’m glad that we’ve been able to make this progress, but again I would just like to strike that note of caution.”

Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill said the Executive’s decisions were “very much informed by the chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser”.

“They have been guided by the health advice.

"It’s very clear that we appear to be now past the peak in terms of case numbers but also in terms of hospital admissions and bed occupancies.

"That’s crucially important information to understand why we’re able to move forward today,” she said.

“It is a good positive step today – we do remain cautiously optimistic but we still ask the public to work with us.

“We have got to this point because of public support.

"We encourage that to remain in the time ahead and we will continue to keep the remaining restrictions under review, but February 10 has been earmarked as the next big staging post in terms of what happens next.

“Today’s progress is to be welcomed but it doesn’t mean that we get complacent, it means that we double down on the remaining measures that are there and still remain cautious.”

First Minister Paul Givan said he was delighted at the consensus within the Executive over relaxations of Covid-19 restrictions.

He said there had been “very welcome progress” and described the Executive’s meeting on February 10 as an “important meeting for those outstanding measures that are still in place”.

“Until that point, if changes are to be made, I encourage people to follow the regulations and listen to that public health advice,” he said.

“But I think the public will be pleased with these decisions that we’ve been able to take. It’s proportionate, it reflects the changing circumstances that we have in respect of Covid, and it is a step in the right direction, and hopefully we will continue to make progress at our meeting on February 10.”