Northern Ireland Secretary praises teamwork of Executive in combating Coronavirus

By Connor Stringer

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has praised the work of the Executive's leading parties in combating Coronavirus.

Brandon Lewis commended the teamwork between the parties in 'coming together' to tackle the virus.

The former Conservative Party Chairman had been Minister of State for Security in the Home Office before a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Appearing on Sky News, he said the adherence to public health guidelines by the people of Northern Ireland was clearly reflected in the number of COVID-19 cases.

He said: "People across Northern Ireland have been very good in following guidelines and we have seen the benefits of that in the sense of how the virus has reacted.

"Health is devolved in Northern Ireland and Health Minister robin swan has done a really good job. Bearing in mind we have five parties in Northern Ireland, who are in the Executive working together and focused on doing what is right for the people of Northern Ireland."

It comes after First Minister Arlene Foster announced yesterday that Northern Ireland may emerge from coronavirus restrictions at a faster pace than other parts of the UK.

In an interview, Mrs Foster said the executive is also set to provide more clarity on the controversial issue over whether people should be able to travel to take part in exercise.

NI may ease restrictions at different pace to other parts of UK - Foster https://t.co/6JJ3yYJp0T

— Q Radio News (@qnewsdesk) April 23, 2020

She said: "It will be led by the criteria that will be set down and agreed by ourselves in the Northern Ireland Executive in conjunction with the our colleagues in the other parts of the UK".

"And because of that you could well see different parts of the United Kingdom move in different time to other parts, because it will be criteria-led.

"What do I mean by that - we will have to look at the amount of admissions to hospital, the admissions to intensive care units, the number of deaths we have, what it means for us in terms of the science.

"We have a scientific advisory group in London that advises and then we also have our own advisory group here in Northern Ireland and our own chief medical officer.

"So they will be looking at all of that information, all of the data we collect in Northern Ireland, we will bring that together and then we'll look at it that way."

The impact of Coronavirus has not been as severe in Northern Ireland as other parts of the UK. The region had recorded 250 deaths in the pandemic by Wednesday.