No change to NI's covid rules

The First Minister confirmed the news via Twitter.

Stormont Ministers met remotely on Thursday to discuss the pandemic.
Published 6th Jan 2022
Last updated 6th Jan 2022

No changes have been made to Northern Ireland's covid-19 restrictions, the First Minister has confirmed.

Paul Givan took to Twitter to reveal the news.

Stormont Minister were meeting to discuss the covid-19 situation - Northern Ireland has been hit with record numbers of cases post-Christmas due to the Omicron variant.

The case numbers have sparked staff shortages, with the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service saying a quarter of its staff are unavailable to work.

Testing facilities came under such pressure this week that a temporary measure was brought in to scrap the requirement for a PCR test after a positive lateral flow test.

Meanwhile the Department of Health has announced that pre-departure Covid tests for travellers arriving in Northern Ireland will be scrapped.

From 4am on Friday, fully vaccinated passengers and under-18s will no longer need to take a pre-departure test or self-isolate on arrival.

Fully vaccinated passengers still need to complete a passenger locator form and take a test on or before day two of their arrival.

From Sunday, this can be either a lateral flow or PCR test.

Anyone with a positive lateral flow test will be required to book a free confirmatory PCR test and isolate. If the PCR is negative, the isolation period can end.

The announcement follows a similar move in England.

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