Three steps to meet before lockdown can end - Chief Medical Officer
Stormont's Chief Medical Officer has revealed what he deems to be three crucial points that will signal a safe time to emerge from the current lockdown.
Dr Michael McBride's comments come in week four of a six-week period with stringent restrictions.
The Stormont Executive is due to meet on Thursday to review the lockdown, which started on December 26th, and forced all but essential shops and services to close.
The Stormont Executive said from the outset that ministers would review the measures with a fortnight to go until the provisional end date of February 6th, but the CMO says the time for relaxation of health regulations is not now.
Speaking at a Department of Health media update, he outlined three prerequisites for the easement of rules getting his blessing:
- Sustained reductions in the levels of community transmission.
Dr McBride said that cases have fallen, but they are still at a very high level - and the emergence of a new covid variant, which can spread more rapidly, will make it more difficult to keep the case numbers low.
He said he was 'increasingly concerned' about the new highly transmissible UK strain, and estimated it was responsible for up to a third of cases.
- Increased protection of vulnerable people through vaccinations.
There has been big progress on this front, with over 154,000 people having received the first dose of a covid vaccination as of yesterday. All over 80's have now also received an inoculation, meaning the rollout team can progress to administer jabs to the 75+ age group, and the clinically vulnerable groups. The rollout in Northern Ireland has been hailed as speedy so far, with NI ranking 4th in the world for vaccines per head of the population.
- Sustained reduction in pressure on hospitals.
842 inpatients are currently infected with the virus, and the figure has been growing day by day.
"We do need to see very significant reductions in the pressure on our health service, but we are not likely to see that for some significant weeks," Dr McBride said. Hospitals are braced for a third surge of covid, which is expected to hit this week, and hit harder than the previous waves.
A matter for the Executive
Dr McBride said he hopes those criteria are met before relaxation of lockdown rules is considered, because 'the virus will not be where we need it to be to allow us to resume life as normal.'
The CMO continued: "Obviously ultimately, such decisions are a matter for ministers and for the executive, but I am on the record as saying I think it would be premature to think that somehow or other magically, on the 6th of February, when the current restrictions are due to come to an end, that it's back to business as usual... That will not be the case.
"What we cannot allow to happen is to relax the current restrictions prematurely, see an increase again in community transmission, and then see our hospital system, and then see our hospital system face a further wave of increased admissions and increased admissions."