LAST UPDATE | 16 Dec 2020
NORTHERN IRELAND REQUIRES “extreme and robust” coronavirus restrictions to halt the spread of the virus, health minister Robin Swann has warned.
Swann will seek the backing of fellow ministers for new Covid-19 measures when the powersharing Executive meets tomorrow.
Swann declined to be drawn today whether he would be recommending an intervention before or after Christmas.
“I can say we will be looking for extreme and robust interventions to get us back into a place where we should be,” he said.
His remarks follow images which showed queues of ambulances outside hospitals in Northern Ireland last night, as pressure mounts on the region’s health service.
Chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride warned yesterday that Northern Ireland faces one of the most challenging periods of the pandemic after the most recent circuit break lockdown failed to drive down infections.
A further eight Covid-19 related deaths were announced today, along with 510 new cases of the virus. Hospital capacity across the region stood at 105% today.
Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill has signalled that she will support whatever is brought forward by Swann and public health advisers, insisting it was important to make the “right decision” and “not the popular one”.
O’Neill said there was “no doubt” an intervention was required.
Christmas will be here next year also, it is a very difficult time, it is a very difficult decision to make as political leaders, sometimes you have to do the right thing, not the popular thing and in my mind what we need to do is whatever is right to keep people safe and to save lives.
“I am up for doing whatever is required, so I’ll work with Executive colleagues tomorrow to try and arrive at a position that actually delivers that.”
First Minister Arlene Foster said she did not think Swann would recommend new restrictions for the period prior to Christmas.
“I don’t think he will be proposing closing down before Christmas but we will of course look to see what Robin and his team of advisers have to say to us, I don’t want to prejudge what he is going to say to us tomorrow but we are in a serious situation,” she said.
“Unfortunately the last two weeks don’t appear to have brought the R number down below 1, there is a diminishing return in terms of restrictions, people are out and about now and so there is a very great need for people to have personal responsibility.”
Foster and O’Neill earlier participated in a call with other devolved leaders in the UK about plans for allowing more household mixing for five days over Christmas.
The leaders are facing intensifying calls to rethink the Christmas relaxations amid fears they could trigger a major spike in cases in January.
Swann told his weekly Stormont media briefing that the region faced some “very dark hours” before the full rollout of the vaccine delivered relief from the virus.
“Its threat will hang over all our Christmases and will cast a shadow well into January,” he said.
“We are once again at a really critical period. Our hospitals, our wider health and care system are already under immense pressure and there are growing fears that January could be much worse.”
He added: “Decisive action is required. People will look to the Executive for what I believe will be a robust intervention and rightly so.”
North-South cooperation
During Leaders’ Questions earlier today, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the situation is “very, very worrying”, adding that the infection rates in the border counties are “a really worry for us” and a “matter of grave concern”.
Martin said officials will be speaking with their Northern Ireland counterparts on a weekly basis from now on, admitting that “it is to be regretted that we didn’t have complete alignment in terms of restrictions”.
The North-South ministerial meeting will take place virtually on Friday, where the Taoiseach said he will say that any “assistance we can be will always be there”.
However, he added that any decisions will have to be made by the Executive.
Speaking this afternoon to RTÉ’s News at One, HSE chief operations officer Anne O’Connor that there’s a “reciprocal arrangement” between jurisdictions north and south and the HSE would be “open” to helping the North with its capacity issues going forward.
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said that Ireland “will not be found wanting” if the North requires assistance in managing a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Donnelly described the situation in the North as “very serious”.
Hospital overcrowding
Wendy McGowan, Director of Operations at the Northern Trust revealed that although ambulances were no longer queuing outside hospitals, 43 patients were in emergency rooms awaiting admission to wards this morning.
In a statement to BBC Northern Ireland, the Northern Trust apologised to the affected patients and their families over the difficulty in managing patient numbers.
Dr Gabriel Scally, Professor of Public Health at the University of Bristol, called on the North’s Health Minister Robin Swann to resign over the recent surge in Covid-19 cases.
“We’re heading into a really lax five-day relaxation over Christmas, and I just think it’s madness,” he told RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne programme.
“This is an appalling way … to deal with the mounting death toll in the North. I’m lost for words about how badly it’s being managed.”
Meanwhile, figures released by the UK government this morning show that 4,000 people have received the Covid-19 vaccine in the North so far.
With reporting from Sean Murray, and Press Association.
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