Michelle O’Neill in doomsday warning of up to 30,000 Covid cases a day

The Sinn Fein deputy first minister was speaking as the especially virulent omicron variant continues to plague the Province.

One week ago, on December 13, there were 10 confirmed omicron cases in Northern Ireland.

As of Saturday, the government said there were 827.

The Press Association had reported late last week that health officials were projecting Northern Ireland “could be recording around 11,000 Covid cases a day in the middle of next month if no further restrictions are introduced”.

As of Friday, there had been roughly 12,800 Covid cases over the preceding seven days.

But on the BBC’s ‘Sunday Politics’ show yesterday, Ms O’Neill said: “We know that by Christmas Day we could potentially have 11,000 cases a day.

“We know that in the worst-case scenario, in terms of some of the modelling that has been done, we could be facing up to 30,000 cases a day.”

Executive ministers are involved in ongoing discussions about the situation ahead of a formal meeting on Wednesday, when it is expected new restrictions to be applied after Christmas will be announced.

But Ms O’Neill told the programme that ministers will act before then if it is deemed necessary.

She said: “We are continuing to work around the clock with public health officials to understand the impact because there are things that we currently know, but there are also things that we do not know.

“In terms of what we know, we know that this is going to hit us like a ton of bricks.

“We know that by the end of the year [the omicron strain] will be the dominant strain of Covid, we know that we will peak in the middle of January, we know it is going to spread rapidly.

“What we don’t yet know is the impact in terms of our hospital situation, and we expect to understand that a bit more tomorrow and that is when we will engage again.

“Then we decide when to intervene and what is the appropriate intervention.”

Ms O’Neill also said the Stormont Executive cannot be “held to ransom” by what is happening in England in order to get financial support from the UK government to introduce Covid restrictions.

She said: “We have been very much focused on raising finances, we need money in order to support interventions because health are telling us that the booster programme in itself isn’t enough, we are going to need an intervention of some sort.

“We need to have the backs of the workers, we need to support businesses if we have to intervene. You cannot do this without money.”

Meanwhile, extra funding to tackle Covid-19 across Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales has been doubled.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the boost was to ensure people in the devolved nations were supported “in the face of this serious health crisis”.

It followed a ramping up of demands for more cash support from the three nations amid the rise in Omicron cases.

The total sum has been doubled from the recently-announced £430 million, to £860 million.

The NI Executive’s share will be £150m.

The Treasury said the amount, which is in addition to autumn Budget funding, will be kept under review.