Anger as NI people continue to visit beauty spots despite COVID-19 social-distancing rules

It's been a full seven days since Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced an array of restriction measures designed to slow the spread of Coronavirus COVID-19.

Elected representatives, medical and healthcare professionals and the public have spent the last week promoting the mantra 'stay at home - protect the NHS - save lives'.

However, there are still people all over Northern Ireland continuing to ignore the rules and are driving relatively long distances to visit beauty spots.

"We are still getting reports of people travelling to beauty spots across the district and parking up to go for a walk, the most recent report relates to the Island Hill area," wrote PSNI Ards and North Down on social media.

"Officers are on patrol and speaking to people to remind them of how we can all stay safe by adhering to the direction given by our government.

"If you are out for your daily exercise period please stay close to home and avoid popular beauty spots and open areas to avoid creating a large gathering," added the PSNI.

The response to the PSNI's appeal for people to stay home was virtually one sided with one woman, a nurse, described those continuing to flaunt the restrictions as "stupid people".

"I am a nurse and I can't sleep at night thinking about these selfish, stupid people.

"All they ave been asked to do is stay at home.

"They ave no idea what we are facing in the next few weeks.

"Maybe then they will realise what they have done," she added.

Another woman seem perplexed by the volume of cyclists on the road.

"I went out for a few essentials earlier, first time in a week and couldn’t believe the amount of people out cycling, in groups!

"Isn’t this one of the highest frequency groups to need to use A&E?," she said.

Twenty-two people in Northern Ireland have died after testing positive for COVID-19.