No end in sight to NI lockdown, admits McBride

The current strict lockdown measures were first put in place on December 26 for a period of six weeks but, with only around three weeks left to go, Dr McBride said a number of “conditions” still need to be met before any relaxation.

He said the emergence of the new, more infectious strain of coronavirus makes easing lockdown more difficult.

Addressing rhe media during a briefing on Tuesday afternoon, Dr McBride said: “If we consider the next steps, I think there are a number of conditions which are important that we reflect upon.

“Firstly, what we need to see is sustained reduction in the levels of community transmission. That, obviously, just became harder with the emergence of the new variant throughout the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.”

He continued: “That means we all have to work harder to achieve the same effect and restrictions which would have achieved significant impact in terms of community transmission will not be as effective with the new variant in circulation.

“The second thing to bear in mind is that before we consider relaxation of current restrictions we need to ensure that we have more of those people who are extremely vulnerable protected by the vaccine.

“We are making very good progress, we have made a very solid start, and we need to ensure that we have as many people who are at risk of severe disease vaccinated and prioritised with the first dose as possible before we consider significant relaxation in the current restrictions.”

He added: “The third element which is crucially important is that we need sustained reduction in the pressures on our hospital system.”