Foster defends Christmas relaxation of restrictions as Covid rates surge

Arlene Foster has defended the pre-Christmas easing of coronavirus restrictions in Northern Ireland as hospitals struggle to deal with surging admission numbers.

Stormont’s first minister insisted one of the new variants of Covid-19 was a key factor in rocketing case numbers witnessed at the turn of the year.

Mrs Foster also suggested that the powersharing executive may have to consider introducing another curfew, similar to that deployed in the week over new year, if the current strict lockdown measures fail to suppress the virus sufficiently.

Hospitals in Northern Ireland are under increasing pressure, with health chiefs warning that the worst is yet to come.

The chief executives of the six health service trusts have predicted that current record high coronavirus inpatient numbers could double by the third week in January.

At a press conference in Co Fermanagh on Monday afternoon, Mrs Foster was asked whether the Stormont executive had to shoulder the blame for the situation hospitals were now facing.

“The executive unanimously decided on our Christmas plan, as indeed did people in the Republic of Ireland, and indeed right across the United Kingdom recognising the special place that Christmas has for a lot of us,” she said.

“I think it’s more than just that. I think we now know that the new variant in terms of coronavirus is here in Northern Ireland, the South African variant unfortunately appears to be in the Republic of Ireland, we have no current cases detected in Northern Ireland, we want to keep it that way.

“However, we do know that the virus does mutate and we’re seeing that now and that’s why we have to take action when we see that happening.”

Health experts in Northern Ireland believe the peak of new infections has now passed, with daily numbers of cases beginning to fall in recent days.

However, the lag period between infections and subsequent hospitalisations means the full impact of the high case numbers will not been experienced in the hospitals until later in January.

A further 16 Covid-19 linked deaths and 759 new cases of the virus were confirmed in Northern Ireland on Monday.

Mr Foster said the R number for new cases had dropped from 1.8 around 10 days ago to between 1.1 and 1.2 on Monday.

She warned that the pressure on hospitals would continue to mount in the days and weeks ahead.

Asked whether the executive could introduce even tighter restrictions, Mrs Foster suggested further curfews may be considered.

“There’s very few options left,” she said.

Mrs Foster added: “There’s very limited ways that we can do anything further, apart from looking maybe again at curfews and doing something along those lines.”

Ms O’Neill said she could not rule out a potential extension of the region’s current lockdown, which is due to end in the first week of February. She said all options remained on the table.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor