Fears visitors will flock to the North Coast and cause spike in Covid-19 cases
Police and politicians have urged the public to stick to Coronavirus regulations
Last updated 2nd Apr 2021
Politicians have urged members of the public not to flock to beauty spots over the Easter weekend.
The Coronavirus regulations in regard to travel are still in place, despite the latest easements announced by the Executive on Thursday.
The stay at home message still applies, which means people should not leave their home unless they have a reasonable excuse to do so, like for work or education purposes.
You should also not travel more than ten miles from your home to exercise under the current Covid-19 rules.
Claire Sugden, an independent MLA for East Londonderry, is worried people will ignore the guidelines and flout the current Government health advise.
She said: “On behalf of resident’s people are nervous that we are going to see and influx of visitors to the North Coast and we are already starting to see that as the good weather improves.
“What I would hope is that people would be mindful of that, don’t travel too far the restrictions are still in place until at least after Easter.
“I would certainly encourage people to think about where they’re going, do they need to be going? Can they wait a number of weeks until more restrictions lift so that we’re all not going to be in the same place at the same time which would spread the virus?
“So, I hope we won’t see that influx of visitors.
“What I think’s important now is that we don’t create a situation where we have to go back on ourselves and I would ask everybody to think about the consequences of that and certainly think about the weeks ahead, look forward to that rather than what needs to happen over Easter.”
The former Justice Minister has urged members of the public to respect the current guidelines and adhere to all the public health messaging so that the Executive can continue to work its way through the Roadmap to Recovery.
She added: “We would hope people would respect that because I think the last thing any of us would want is a spike in the figures which would take us back.
“We’re getting to that point where we’re lifting the restrictions and I think we’re all looking forwards to that.
“I think we all have to be mindful around Easter, we’re all responsible for our actions and we’re not quite there yet, but after Easter we hopefully will be.
“So, I hope we won’t see that influx of visitors.
“I think the lifting of restrictions is tentative and deliberately, so I think it takes us past Easter again I think that’s deliberately so because people tend to want to be with family’s and all of that.
“I think the next number of weeks will be critical and I think everybody just needs to kind of hold their breath if you like in terms of where we are going.”
Ahead of Easter weekend, Police are appealing to the public to continue to follow the advice of the Health Minister and Department of Health and adhere to the Health Protection Regulations.
Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd said: “We understand that people may be frustrated and are keen to return to normal but the fact remains that we are still in the midst of a pandemic and the choices we make have the potential to influence the road map out of the current lockdown.
“Stay at home remains the advice from the Department of Health.
“If you have reasonable excuse to travel, please take extra care on the roads.
“Drivers should be mindful of greater number of people crossing roads or walking along country roads, particularly close to parks, green spaces and public amenities.
“Pedestrians must pay attention to their environment, whether that means not getting distracted by friends or mobile devices or being especially careful when walking on country roads by walking on the right, facing oncoming traffic and by wearing highly visible clothing.
“Tragically five motorcyclists have died in collisions so far this year, four more compared to the same time last year. We are reminding bikers to ensure their machines and safety equipment are in good working order and that they ride defensively.
Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd continued: “The Regulations also direct that no person may leave or remain away from home without reasonable excuse.
Travel or stay at holiday accommodation does not constitute reasonable excuse and we are asking everyone to continue to postpone their visits to holiday accommodation until the Regulations change.
“It is still Easter, and everyone can still celebrate in a safe and slightly different way.
“We will continue to use our four Es approach to encourage everyone to follow the Regulations and maintain safe spaces for all.”
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