Post-Christmas lockdown for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland will enter a strict six-week lockdown from Boxing Day.
Health Minister Robin Swann said the lockdown is “in large part” the same as “the sustained lockdown” of last March.
Non-essential shops will close after Christmas Eve, and close-contact services such as hairdressers and beauticians will have to shut.
Pubs, cafés and restaurants will be restricted to takeaway service.
No sporting events will be permitted at all, and people will be urged to leave their home only for essential reasons.
Read more: Priti Patel urges Brits to stay at home this Christmas
Places of worship can remain open under strict conditions. Formal shielding will not resume, but “stronger advice” will be issued.
Tighter restrictions will be in place for the first week of the lockdown, from Boxing Day until 2 January with essential shops closing and no gathering permitted between 8pm and 6am.
Mr Swann said he was “very mindful” of the effect the last year has had on lives, and that the new measures were being brought in “with a heavy heart”.
He added that the “short, sharp interventions” put in place in the autumn in Northern Ireland had not worked, so the executive was returning to what had worked earlier in the year.
The reproduction number in Northern Ireland is currently between 1 and 1.2, but there are fears it could rise to between 1.4 and 1.8 over Christmas.
Northern Ireland’s chief scientific officer Professor Ian Young told BBC Radio Foyle that without the new lockdown, the number of deaths and hospital admissions would have been severe.
“While there will be huge pressures on this hospital system in January it should allow our colleagues to cope,” he said.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride said there have only been five days since 21 October where hospital occupancy has been below 95%.
He added: “When occupancy goes above 90% there’s an increased risk of harm to patients.
“This is really serious, it does not get anymore serious than it is now. Don’t wait for restrictions to begin, we all need to act now to get this virus under control.”