North ‘may need further Covid restrictions’, says chief medical officer

Northern Ireland may require some further Covid restrictions but is not facing the prospect of another lockdown, its chief medical officer said.

Michael McBride warned Northern Ireland was facing a very serious situation and some further restrictions on certain settings may be required if efforts to suppress the current wave fail.

There have been a further seven deaths of patients who had previously tested positive for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland.

Another 1,690 positive cases of the virus were also notified by the Department of Health on Friday.

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On Friday morning there were 410 Covid-positive patients in hospital, with 33 in intensive care.

“I don’t think that we’ll go back to the situation that we had before, back in March last year, when we had that lockdown,” Mr McBride told BBC Radio Ulster.

He said the vaccination programme meant a lockdown was less likely.

“I do not think that we will go back to the damaging impact of lockdowns, however we may need to consider our wider restrictions in certain environments and sectors where we know the risks are higher,” he said.

“If we don’t act now and if we don’t act decisively, unfortunately we may well be back advising the Executive that further interventions are needed to prevent our health service being overwhelmed,” Mr McBride said.

He said the easing of restrictions in the hospitality sector at the end of October had led to a “very significant uptick in cases”.

The North’s chief scientific adviser, Prof Ian Young, said there is a “menu of measures” that are known to be effective that can be recommended to the Stormont Executive in mid-December if the situation deteriorates.

He indicated those would include restrictions or closures in some sectors, but that closing retail would be unlikely.

“We’re seeing a strong upward trajectory of cases in Northern Ireland, and that’s a pattern that we’re seeing in the Republic of Ireland and also in many countries across western Europe as we move into the winter,” he told the Nolan Show.

“In about three to four weeks’ time if we don’t take any action then it looks as if the hospitals would be at risk of being overwhelmed.

“We’re still not at the levels of Covid that we saw last winter ... the hospitals have contingency plans in place and those plans are being activated but if the Covid numbers rise more significantly then even those plans may not be sufficient,” Prof Young said.

Asked about the proposal to strengthen working from home guidance, Mr McBride said evidence indicated that was potentially “one of the single most effective interventions”.

He said people did not need to cancel scheduled Christmas parties at this stage but advised them to take precautions to minimise risk, such as taking a lateral flow test prior to attending. – PA