Covid-19: NI takes further step away from restrictions as rules change again

A series of restrictions will be lifted tomorrow as part of what Health Minister Robin Swann has suggested could be the “beginning of the end” of the coronavirus pandemic here.

The latest changes were agreed in a meeting of the Northern Ireland Executive on Thursday, and follow an earlier loosening of the rules on Friday.

From January 21, the requirement to be seated whilst consuming food and/or drink and for table service in premises that provide alcohol was removed, along with limit of six people at a table from different households.

In domestic settings, guidance regarding the cap on the number households meeting indoors was also removed on Friday, although a maximum number of 30 people permitted to gather was retained in regulation.

The requirement to provide proof of an exemption from wearing face coverings was also dropped on Friday, while the guidance on working from home reverted to “working from home where you can” with employers encouraged to facilitate this.

Tomorrow, nightclubs will be allowed to reopen and the ban on dancing will be lifted.

Indoor standing events can also resume from tomorrow.

The legal requirement for venues to check the Covid status of customers – dubbed vaccine passports – will be dropped from hospitality venues but will still be required in nightclubs and “indoor unseated or partially seated events with 500 people or more”.

While the legal requirement to use the so-called vaccine passes will be lifted for most hospitality businesses, it is possible some could continue to use them voluntarily and bar entry to anyone unable to prove their status. Government guidance will continue to “strongly encourage their continued use”.

Also changing tomorrow will be the requirement for offices to take “reasonable measures for 2m social distancing”. While that requirement will go, guidance remains in place that risk assessments should be carried out.

Some of the few restrictions remaining in place after tomorrow will be the requirement to wear face coverings in public settings indoors, the legal duty on retailers to take “reasonable measures to reduce the risk of transmission”, along with the requirement for risk assessments to be carried out in certain settings.

Contact tracing requirements – including the need for certain settings to record visitor information – will also remain in place after tomorrow.

Guidance on testing, including the expectation that those working in certain sectors are tested regularly, will also remain in place after tomorrow. These measures will be reviewed on February 10.