NI businesses unable to adhere to social distancing must send staff home - Arlene Foster

The comments were made during Monday's daily briefing by First Minister, Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister, Michelle O'Neill.

Mrs. Foster commented on the thousands of people spotted not observing social-distancing at some of Northern Ireland's beauty spots over the weekend.

Mrs. Foster accused all those who attended places where there were large groups of people as "putting your own and the lives of others at great risk".

Northern Ireland's First Minister described the importance of social-distancing as a "matter of life and death" and said the public would face a "wave of death" should they continue to ignore the advice.

"We will use legislation to enforce social distancing," said Mrs. Foster.

"It has to stop, this is not a holiday," said deputy First Minister, Michelle O'Neill.

Mrs. Foster and Mrs. O'Neill both called on all non-essential services throughout Northern Ireland to close immediately.

Mrs. Foster remarked that businesses that stay open must observe social-distancing of two metres between individuals however if this is not possible the businesses must shut and/or send employees home.

The press conference came a few hours after the Department of Health identified an additional 20 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Northern Ireland in the last 24 hours.

As of 2.00pm on Monday March 23 there were 148 confirmed cases in Northern Ireland and two people had died after testing positive for the deadly disease.