Alignment hopes for Christmas covid restrictions

Politicians from both sides of the border will meet this morning (Friday 6th) to discuss a joint Coronavirus strategy for the festive period.

It comes as the NI Executive deferred a decision on whether to extend circuit breaker restrictions beyonfd Friday 13th.

There have been calls for a UK wide approach to the rules at Christmas.

That will be one of the topics on todays British Irish Council meeting, which is being hosted virtually by Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

With one week of the four-week circuit-break to go, Arlene Foster said the reproductive rate of the virus has dropped to an estimated 0.7.

However, both Mrs Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill expressed concern at the high numbers of patients in hospitals, which are at 100% capacity, and warned there is more work to do.

While the Stormont Executive had a "comprehensive'' discussion on Thursday about what measures may need to be introduced from November 13 when enhanced restrictions come to an end, no decision was taken.

Mrs Foster indicated discussions would continue over the weekend with a decision to be announced early next week.

The Executive meeting came after an announcement by Chancellor Rishi Sunak that furlough scheme, which pays up to 80% of an employee's wages, will be extended to March next year.

Mr Sunak has also announced #400 million in additional funding for the Executive to address Covid-19 challenges.

Health officials have recommended Northern Ireland's shuttered pubs and restaurants should stay closed but no decision was taken at Stormont on Thursday.

Mrs Foster said: "Those discussions will continue and we will intensify our engagement with the hospitality sector representatives as we seek a safe and sustainable way forward for that industry.

"We want to be able to make announcements at the earliest possible opportunity to provide businesses with certainty and allow people to see the plan.''

The StopCovidNI contact-tracing app has been downloaded more than half a million times.

The ministers said the restrictions were beginning to have an impact on the infection rate.

Mrs Foster said: "We have seen significant progress on transmission rates.

"The number of new cases has dropped and the estimated R rate in the community has fallen to around 0.7.''

She said the number of patients requiring treatment remained high and the proportion of older people affected had increased.

Movement has fallen, with a 57% decrease in footfall in Belfast city centre.

Ms O'Neill expressed her concern that 409 people are in hospitals with Covid-19, more than at any point during the first wave of the virus.

Combined with significant levels of staff absences across the system, she said, the situation was unsustainable and added health staff needed help.

"The infection rate won't stay at a low enough level unless we work very hard to keep it there,'' she said.

There have been 12 further Covid-19 linked deaths in Northern Ireland - eight within the last 24 hours and another four reported that occurred earlier, the Department of Health has announced.

There were another 516 new cases of the virus.

The death toll stands at 752.