Shoppers have been asked to stop over-buying food by the Consumer Council.

The Consumer Council said it had been reassured by the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium that supermarket shelves would not be empty if households bought only what they usually needed.

Aodhan Connolly, director at the consortium which represents supermarkets, said overbuying was causing unnecessary challenges for retailers.

He said supermarkets had "enough products to go around".

“Food retailers are focusing all their efforts on getting as much food on to their shelves as possible, and we would therefore ask that consumers work with retailers at this time, and only buy what they need,” he said.

Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI political reporter

The Stormont Assembly will sit this week, but plenary business will be vastly reduced.Later, a motion to suspend ministerial question time until May will be brought to the chamber.On Tuesday, the assembly will debate Westminster’s Coronavirus bill, which grants emergency powers to governments to deal with the situation.

Some MLAs are already self-isolating and other parties are reducing their number of members in the chamber at any one time, so things will look very different at Stormont today.But ministers will still be able to make urgent statements, and there’s the executive’s daily press conference in the afternoon.

The chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride says the department of health has "rapidly scaled up" testing for Covid-19.

"We did over 400 over the last day or so and by early April we will have ramped up our testing capacity to 800 tests per day," he told Good Morning Ulster.

"We are currently testing healthcare workers. We've had a protocol in place over the last number of days.

Image source, Getty Images

Dr McBride outlined the department of health's priorities in terms of testing.

"Firstly, those people who are in hospital with pneumonia or in intensive care.

"That's to make sure they get optimal care and to make sure we can take the correct infection control measures in our hospitals to protect our staff.

"Secondly, where there are potential clusters or outbreaks, particularly in those who are very vulnerable individuals and then into our frontline healthcare workers."

The issues being faced by supermarkets over customer stockpiling during the coronavirus outbreak has become "quite severe", Stormont's economy minister has said.

Supermarkets across the UK have been urging shoppers not to buy more than they need.

"I'm going to speak to the supermarkets, to those who are in the food supply chain and those who distribute food around our supermarkets," said Diane Dodds.

Image source, AFP

Speaking on Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme, she said: "We have actually seen the issue becoming quite severe in certain areas over the weekend."

The minister said she wanted to make sure supply chains are in order so that they can "survive in all circumstances".

"This a time where we need to draw on the strengths of community and good neighbourliness we have here in Northern Ireland," the chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride tells Good Morning Ulster.

"This is a time to look after and look out for each other.

"Now is the time to protect ourselves, to protect each other and to protect our health service and support each other."

Image source, Getty Images

He adds: "People need to follow the simple advice that's out there about staying at home, avoiding all unnecessary travel, work from home if you can, and follow the advice on social distancing.

"The steps we take over the next two weeks will make the difference as to whether or not our health service is able to provide the very very best care to those who need it and also will protect our hardworking and dedicated frontline health and social care staff."

The chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride says "people should not be trivialising this disease".

"There's no point any of us looking back in two weeks and thinking I wish we had done more.

"We need to take steps now."

Image source, Getty Images

"We will be writing out over the next week to all of those groups here in Northern Ireland, we estimate there are some 40,000 people, who GPs will be writing to directly," Dr McBride adds.

"Those individuals will need to shield themselves from the virus for 12 weeks in the first phase of this.

"We will be protecting people from the virus. So isolating them from the virus, but not isolating them from society."

The chancellor "has not gone the whole way" with measures to help businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, Stormont's economy minister has said.

Diane Dodds said Rishi Sunak needs to go further.

The government announced the biggest intervention in private sector business since World War Two on Friday to help fight the economic impact of Covid-19.

80% of wages for employees not working, up to £2,500 a month, will be paid, Rishi Sunak announced.

Speaking on Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme Diane Dodds said the announcement was "a game changer".

"This is a hugely significant intervention in the economy at this time," she said.

Image source, Getty Images

"And the increases to working tax credit, universal credit, the deferment of back payments and of income tax payments for those who are on self assessment is also a useful tool."

However, Mrs Dodds believes the chancellor should go further.

"He has not gone the whole way and he has not addressed the issue of the self employed."

Mrs Dodds said she wrote to the Treasury on Friday to indicate "this was still an outstanding issue".

"This is about 15% of the workforce in Northern Ireland - people who contribute, who are entrepreneurial and who are constantly out working to pay the bills and support families," she added.

The coronavirus pandemic has affected people's lives in many ways, from physical health to financial worries.

Orla Mullan, from Limavady in County Londonderry, lost her main source of income and had to postpone her wedding within the same week.

Foyle PSNI has called on parents to speak to their children about "how serious the current situation is", after coming across a large number of young people drinking in Londonderry.

Doctors and nurses on the front line in the coronavirus crisis have made a direct appeal to the UK public.

"If you choose to stay at home, you will save lives," say healthcare professionals from the Belfast Trust respiratory team in a video that has been widely shared on social media.

It comes as the number of UK deaths reached 281, including a person aged 18 with an underlying health condition.

Read more: What is social distancing?

Children of key workers should only go to school on Monday as a "last resort", according to the Department of Education.

Education Minister Peter Weir said that only one parent needs to be a key worker for a pupil to attend school.

However he said children should only attend school if there was "no other viable option" for their care.

Image source, Getty Images

Most schools across Northern Ireland are expected to open on a limited basis from Monday.

Children of key workers as well as those with a statement of special educational needs (SEN), or other pupils who are vulnerable, can attend school.

Many schools spent Friday and the weekend contacting parents of pupils to find out who was likely to attend.

Read more here.

The UK has shut down schools (for most children) and pubs, and has urged people to socially distance. But thousands of people flocked to parks and tourist hotspots over the weekend, drawing criticism online.

At his daily news conference on Sunday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said new, stricter measures may now be introduced.

Image source, Getty Images

"I don't think you need to use your imagination very much to see where we might have to go, and we will think about this very, very actively in the next 24 hours," he said.

"We need to think about the kind of measures we've seen elsewhere - other countries that have been forced to bring in restrictions on people's movements altogether."

Image source, Getty Images

Northern Ireland:

• 128 confirmed cases
• Two deaths
• 2,484 people have been tested

Republic of Ireland:

• 906 confirmed cases
• Four deaths

United Kingdom:

• 5,683 confirmed cases
• 281 deaths
• 78,340 people have been tested

Northern Ireland's health service is to access all hospital beds across the private sector.

In documents seen by BBC News NI the health board proposes to contract the use of the hospital sites for a period of "not less than 3 months".

Image source, SPL

It's part of health authorities' surge planning for Covid-19.

Meanwhile health care staff are urging the government to test more workers as soon as possible.

In a statement the Department of Health (DoH) said officials are now working with the private sector to identify how the additional resources can be best used.

Read more here.

Welcome back to our live coverage of all the latest developments in Northern Ireland on coronavirus. Stay with us throughout the day as we keep you up-to-date.