Police to operate cross-border checks from today in bid to halt Covid-19

The main focus of the Garda Siochana (AGS) Operation Fanacht will be in Donegal where officers from Leitrim, Sligo and other counties have been drafted in to check “compliance with public health regulations”.

Any motorists stopped after entering Donegal from Tyrone, Londonderry and Fermanagh can expect to be encouraged not to travel out of or into Donegal “unless absolutely necessary”.

The warning came as the chief medical officers of both Northern Ireland and the Republic called on everyone to limit cross-border travel in response to the soaring infection rates in Donegal and in the Derry City and Strabane Council area.

Co Donegal has been placed under a three-week period of tightened restrictions, while Londonderry and the surrounding area is recording the highest Covid-19 infection figures anywhere in Northern Ireland.

Teenagers and people aged in their twenties and thirties in particular have been asked to reduce their social contacts as a record number of people in Northern Ireland tested positive yesterday (273) under the current testing system.

First Minister Arlene Foster has appealed for people to “use their common sense” and not to visit Donegal.

“I would advise them not to go because I don’t think that that is essential travel, and it’s certainly not an exempted part,” she said.

“What we’re trying to do at the moment is to break the transmission of the virus and the way to do that is to follow the regulations and to follow the advice and I think people should listen very carefully to the advice that’s been given to citizens in Donegal but also to what we’re saying here in Northern Ireland.”

Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill described the rising infection rate in Donegal as “alarming”. She said: “I think it shows that the virus is still with us. It shows that the virus spreads at an alarming rate. What we need now is a very strong response and I welcome the fact that, you know, measures have been put in place immediately.”

In a statement, an AGS spokeswoman said: “Operation Fanacht will see a high level of visibility of members of An Garda Síochána in Donegal to support the public health guidelines, particularly in relation to social distancing and gathering in large groups at amenities and open spaces.

“Targeted Garda checkpoints will be established throughout the county. An Garda Síochána wants to remind everyone that people are being encouraged not to travel out of or into the county of Donegal unless absolutely necessary.”

The PSNI said: “We will work with the NI Executive, local health authorities and our partners in AGS as we endeavour to counter the impact of Covid-19. We will continue to encourage the Northern Ireland public to adhere to the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) Regulations”.

l Ben Lowry, page 11