Pubs not serving food to reopen next Wednesday

Pubs that do not serve food in Northern Ireland will be able to reopen next Wednesday.

Enforceable regulations will be passed.

New coronavirus restrictions to the BT60 area, which covers parts of Co Armagh, have also been agreed by Stormont ministers.

There have been a further 149 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the last 24-hours, the Department of Health has said.

This brings the total number of cases to 8,780, including 689 in the last seven days.

No further deaths were reported on Thursday.

Coronavirus restrictions in Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland subjected to localised measures became legally enforceable by police on Wednesday and repeat offenders face fines of up to £960.

The current estimate of the virus’ reproductive rate is 1.2.

The average number of new positive tests per day during the last seven days was 90 and incidence based on new positive tests was 33 per 100,000.

Chief scientific adviser Professor Ian Young said: “Over the last week, we have seen a plateauing in cases and an increase in hospital admissions.”

The seven-day average number of Covid-occupied beds increased from 16 to 21.

He added the proportion of cases in individuals aged more than 60 years has risen from under 10% to just under 16%, but remains significantly below wave one of the epidemic where around half of cases were in this age group.

“The current increase in cases in younger people is likely to lead to increasing cases in the over-60s with resulting pressure on the hospital system and, tragically, increasing deaths.”