No change to NI's covid rules
The First Minister confirmed the news via Twitter.
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.
READ MORE
Pre-departure PCR rule scrapped