No plans for additional Covid-19 restrictions pre-Christmas, Michelle O'Neill says

By PA

Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill says there are no plans for additional Covid-19 restrictions in the run-up to Christmas.

She also hit out at the spreading of misinformation about further restrictions as “absolutely disgraceful”.

“Times are hard enough, times are challenging enough so I would encourage everybody to take their information directly from ourselves who are elected in the Executive, the Public Health Agency and the Department of Health,” she said.

“Those that are engaged in disinformation is just shameful and it is causing confusion that people don’t need.

“We have had an assessment around where we’re at, and I think we’re probably past the peak in terms of the Delta variant.

"That’s good, however, there is no room to be complacent.

“I have asked the question directly of the Department of Health, ‘are we doing enough right now’, and the answer to that question was that we are.

“Obviously we are concerned about this new variant, and we don’t yet know the impact of that but as things stand today I can say to you that as long as the public continue to adhere to what is being asked at this moment in time then I think that we’re sufficient.

"I think it’s going to be an uncertain period for the next number of weeks however we don’t expect, at this moment in time, to be asking people to do more.

"We’re asking people to comply and double up on all of our efforts in terms of our own personal decisions.”

Ms O’Neill was speaking to media at the Mater Hospital in Belfast following a meeting with representatives from the Royal College of Surgeons.

Meanwhile, a further four deaths of patients who had previously tested positive for Covid-19 have been reported.

Another 1,908 cases of the virus were also notified.

This morning there were 326 Covid-positive patients in hospital, of whom 30 were in intensive care.