NI Executive will not hesitate to bring in more Covid-19 restrictions – minister

By Michelle Devane, PA

Northern Ireland’s Executive will not hesitate to introduce further restrictions to combat the spread of Covid-19 if needed, the health minister has warned.

But Robin Swann said he does not want a return to a long-term or indefinite lockdown.

His comments came as the head of health protection at the Public Health Agency warned a circuit-breaker lockdown in Northern Ireland was “almost inevitable” if Covid-19 cases continue to rise.

Dr Gerry Waldron said people needed to brace themselves and see how the next couple of weeks work out.

A circuit breaker is a short intensive period of strict restrictions, or lockdown, to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill tweeted last night to say "any notion of a circuit breaker only works if it's across the Island of Ireland."

Any notion of a circuit breaker only works if it’s across the Island of Ireland

— Michelle O’Neill (@moneillsf) October 4, 2020

Mr Swann described the rise in the infection rate across the region as “deeply disturbing”.

A total of 462 new cases of Covid-19 in a 24-hour period were confirmed by the Department of Health on Sunday.

There has been one further death reported.

The death toll recorded by the department now stands at 584.

“Our hospitals are already under growing pressure and this will inevitably intensify in the coming weeks given the extent of the new cases,” Mr Swann said.

“Concrete action has been taken by Executive on a number of fronts and I will not hesitate to recommend further restrictions. Saving lives and protecting our health service must come first.”

He said household contacts had been “severely curtailed” across Northern Ireland and more intensive restrictions have been introduced for Derry and Strabane local government district, in light of the data for that council area.

“Additional planned interventions are under active consideration,” he added.

“I continue to be very mindful of the adverse consequences of this pandemic on society and the economy. I do not want a return to a long-term or indefinite lockdown.”

He said on Sunday that any interventions must be accompanied by a concerted community-wide effort to get the virus back under control.

“I really hope that by now everyone is fully aware of the scale of the crisis we are facing,” Mr Swann said.

He said the health service could not fight the virus on its own and needed the whole community to “rally round and to strictly follow the public health advice”.

“Social distancing is not an optional extra,” he added.

Earlier Dr Waldron described the increase in the number of cases in recent days in Northern Ireland as “worrying” but not surprising given the way the cases have been mounting over the past few weeks.

Gerry Waldron

“It’s not a place we expected to be at this time of the year, at the beginning of October, we thought, if anything, we might be seeing that maybe middle of October,” he told Radio Ulster’s Sunday With Steven Rainey show.

“It’s here. We have to deal with it and we’ll deal with it by people taking to heart the messages that were put out before about social distance, social isolation when required, wearing face coverings and washing hands,” he said.

Asked whether a circuit breaker was needed, he said: “If the numbers continue to ramp up as we’ve seen I think it’s almost inevitable that that’s the way we’ll be heading.”

He added: “We’ll just have to brace ourselves and see how things pan out over the next few days and the next week.”

The latest figures show that the infection rate in Derry City and Strabane has continued to increase. There are now 485.2 cases per 100,000 of the population.

The rate in the Newry, Mourne and Down council area is up to 289.1 while Belfast has risen to 214.8.

The area with the next highest prevalence is Mid Ulster at 180.3.

Northern Ireland’s finance minister, Conor Murphy, said on Sunday that further steps will be considered by Stormont if the current Covid-19 measures are not effective.

Conor Murphy

Mr Murphy told the BBC’s Sunday Politics all options would be discussed when the Executive meets on Monday.

He also said he was working to quickly put in place a package to support businesses forced to close their doors as a result of Covid-19.

“We recognise that if businesses are forced to close down in hospitality that there will be ongoing costs that they will need assistance with,” he said.

“What we want to do is put a scheme in which gets support on to the ground very quickly, which isn’t overly bureaucratic, which recognises that this may be in place for a couple of weeks and that people need support with ongoing costs.”

Mr Murphy said the furlough scheme was available until the end of the month but they wanted to get a new support package on to the ground. that went “directly to those who need it”.

The Stormont Executive announced new restrictions for the Derry City and Strabane Council area on Thursday in an effort to stem spiralling infection numbers.

They include hospitality businesses being limited to takeaway, delivery and outdoor dining, and a call to avoid unnecessary travel.

A total of 65 patients with Covid-19 were being cared for in 20 hospitals in the region on Sunday, with nine in intensive care.