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A FURTHER 234 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Northern Ireland.
In its daily update, the NI Department of Health said that a further four people with Covid-19 have died, bringing the death toll to 2,000.
The latest figures bring the number of deaths on the island of Ireland since the start of the pandemic to almost 6,000.
Case numbers have declined significantly in Northern Ireland in recent weeks. It has been under strict lockdown restrictions since St Stephen’s Day.
Last night, there were 477 patients in Northern Irish hospitals with Covid-19, down from 655 a week ago. There are 59 patients with Covid-19 in an intensive care unit.
Over 400,000 vaccine doses have been administered in Northern Ireland so far, with the vast majority of these being first doses.
The Stormont Executive is set to discuss the re-opening of schools later this week.
Most schools have been closed since before the Christmas break as part of the lockdown.
Special schools have remained open and mainstream schools are open for the children of key workers.
Speaking earlier today, NI Public Health Agency official Dr Joanne McClean said that the risk of Covid-19 transmission is higher at school gates than in the classroom.
Schools are not the major source of transmission … the risk for the staff in the classroom is not higher than other workforces and part of that is due to the excellent measures that schools have put in place,” she told the BBC’s Stephen Nolan Show.
“Schools have done a huge amount, principals have worked themselves into the ground from September onwards to introduce ways of working in schools that are completely new to them.
But she added that children and staff “cannot be magicked” into school classrooms.
“There are two bits to this, there’s the bit that goes on in the classroom that schools can control … and then there is the bit that goes on outside the gates,” she said.
Dr McClean said schools being open adds an estimated 0.3-0.6 to the reproduction number, or R value, of the virus.
“Every single contact matters, where people meet, coronavirus has the opportunity to spread and this is why it is so difficult for the Executive, they have to strike a balance between keeping every single one of our interactions to a minimum but also allowing society to function is some way,” she said.
“Overall the message for every single one of us still is every single contact matters, keep your contacts as low as possible, stay at home and only have contact with other people when you really have to.”
With reporting from PA
I love how online news outlets try to spin this as a decision taken because she is Chelsea Manning, when you actually read the article she was refused due to having a criminal record and not meeting the minimum criteria set out in their migration act.
@John Judd: I think it’s a little more nuanced than that.
@John Judd: I think you’ll find that’s nonsense, many celebrities have had no difficulty entering Australia despite having criminal convictions, this can obviously be overlooked when convenient. And of course, also used by the Australian authorities when convenient.
@John Judd: That’s funny considering they’re mostly descended from ex prisoners themselves.
@Ivan Connolly: yes it is more nuanced. He committed treason against the US.
@nick_d: use the correct pronoun !
A lot of governments don’t like facts being out in the open including Ireland
@Genius 80s+:It’s unclear if they’re afraid of the ideas she may put forward or LGBT issues, both arguments are equally ridiculous.
@Genius 80s+: ….especially Ireland!
Australia don’t respect the aboriginals. so what would you expect?
@Sean Conway:
And some of the worst offenders when it comes to abuse of Australian aboriginals were our own early exports.
@Walt Jabsco: that’s the intention when you round up criminals to start a colony
I’m guessing the USA had a hand in influencing Australia to deny her visa. They don’t want her going abroad speaking up if they can help it.
@Clear And Graphic: criminal record = no visa. Standard
@Ronan Gallagher: Except… if that were true then half the worlds celebrities, rappers, movie stars etc. wouldn’t be allowed to enter Australia. Everyone from Paul McCartney to Will Smith would be barred, and clearly that just doesn’t happen, or at least very selectively.
@Cú Chulainn: the crimes he committed are very serious though. National security
@Ronan Gallagher:
Crimes ‘she’ committed.
And not really, it was a public service. Celebs with domestic assault, rape and drugs charges are allowed in to perform or film, why single her out?
@Ronan Gallagher: That’s somewhat subjective. While some in the American intelligence community may consider people like Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden among the worst criminals possible, others, myself included, consider that they risked their lives to reveal a this dreadful invasion of privacy upon us all. For years much of it was suspected and those who put it into words were often accused of being cooks, conspiracy theorists, madmen. It turns out they were not only right but it went much further than even they suspected.
@Cú Chulainn: risk their life or risk the country and its citizens lives?
Funny ol’ world we live in. She’s convicted of the crime of leaking data including the horrific Collateral Murder video. While the events in that video with soldiers killing unarmed people from an attack helicopter are labelled “possible crimes”.
Wow the journal won’t let the aldi article have any comments?
@Jonathan Byrne: Lidl?
Chris Brown, Floyd Mayweather Jr, Julien Blanc, Snoop Dogg, David Irving, Tyler The Creator, Jeff Allen,all denied visas by Australia. Can’t fault a country for sticking by its rules.
Wow. She’s hot…
@Shanley Mac: and I thought the new lgbgt gti Ireland was tolerant,or is this just to try and discredit from what the story is about
@Genius 80s+: Ireland is not LGBT tolerant. Prejudice is rife. I am a huge fan of Chelsea Manning. She’s the bravest of the brave, risking death by firing squad in order to tell the truth of crimes perpetuated by the surveillance and warring community in the U.S. Her gender and lifestyle choices are of no consequence to me nor should they be. She did her work. She served her debt to that society. And now she should be allowed to tell her story in full.
@Genius 80s+: if you’re born a man, you’re a man. Saying you think otherwise doesn’t change your chromosomes
So where not gonna focus on the illagility reasons then
@Jonathan Byrne:
What’s “Illagility”? Is it when you’re clumsy?
@Walt Jabsco: what is it doctor? …It’s your agility..It’s ill, you have illiagility, there’s no cure! €60
@BarronVonVaderHam: if only my withisism was a strong as yours, without the need for punctuality. . ( I sure hope I spelt that right, for the message to have meaning)
Is the irony of Australia not allowing a criminal in lost on everyone
@scwazrh: There’s no criminals in van diemans land.
Imagine if Australia had let Manning in , no questions asked. This would leave them open to abuse and ridicule from those who had been denied entry. To be fair on the Aussie’s. This is the only decision to take. Having said that, there is an excellent chance that Manning will be granted entry anyway.
Why are these events booked before the speaker has a visa? Get the visa first then book venues. Maybe that’s a reason why immi departments don’t like some of these speakers, they automatically assume they’ll get a visa.
HE was in prison for treason which is a little bit worse than being a bad actor or singer. Good for Australia to actually enforce their rules.
Of course Australia will ban her, once a colony always a colony
Whatever. She is a traitor to her country and her comrades.
@Ros Aodha: A Traitor No..convicted of reporting the murder of civilians in a totally unnecessary war. The Traitors are those who lied in convincing nations that the war was nessecery.
@Donal Desmond:
No, convicted of releasing over 700 classified documents, whilst admitting that she had absolutely no idea of what the vast majority of them contained.
Manning was not a whistleblower. He – he was a he at the time – simply released every document his security clearance allowed him access to for reasons known unto himself at the time, but appear to have been personal rather than political. He could not possibly have analysed more than a tiny fraction of the 700,000 documents he wantonly disclosed.
Then, as a she, she got the luckiest of breaks. It was the time of the foment over transgender toilet use – one of the few issues Obama issued an executive order over. It happened to be a subject that was in the public eye. If Bradley had not declared he was now Chelsea, he would still be in jail.
Dirty American fingers all over this. Suppressing truth just like the commies.
Wouldn’t expect anything less from the up their own arse Aussies
@Lambo Moonski: what up mate, some Aussie Chick dump you and now your bitter against the country! Dumb @ss
@Joe Kelly: You some kind of internet Aussie minder?
Is it because he is a transistor that prompted the refusal. I though transistors would get good reception down under.? Now even the Ausie’s are getting boring.?
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