Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent

Covid 19 has thrown up so many issues and perhaps most poignantly this one – families not being able to say goodbye.

The health secretary Matt Hancock’s words started a conversation in NI.

Health Minister Robin Swann ruled it out for NI but has asked for the issue to be reviewed.

But - if you even stop to think of the practicalities of that PPE gear - having masks fitted, while grieving, with the public perhaps bringing the virus into wards when you look at it in the bright light of day it just doesn’t seem very practical.

It also raises other issues as this guidance Mr Hancock talked about says only one member of a family would be allowed at the bedside.

Today I met Catherine Coulter, a nurse at Antrim Area Hospital, who was coming off shift and exhausted.

She wanted to take the opportunity to tell families that when that occasion arises that they can’t be there, she is.

“I held the patient’s hand," she told me.

"At these times it is especially poignant to make sure that I am at that bedside and that the patient is comfortable, pain free and when they pass away it is dignified.

"They are not on their own.

"The family had told me to tell the patient that they loved them. They told me what she had been like so at least I had a concept of the person in the bed – what she had accomplished in her life, the family she had.

"I tried to convey to her the support and love she had and how much they wish they could have been there," she said.

Marie-Louise Connolly
BBC News NI Health Correspondent

We are not through this yet.

We have seen some little green shoots.

But that 18 death toll is a grim wake-up call to some people who may remain complacent.

Once we started to talk about green shoots some people, understandably, started to look forward to something happening soon but it won’t be happening soon.

Image source, Getty Images

The experts are saying that while that number of 18 feels like we are at the peak, we may not be.

We could have another couple of days of figures like 18 and it is only when those figures start to consistently go down, we know we are coming out the other side.

We aren’t there yet.

Justin McCamphill of teachers' union NASUWT says it is an "impossibility" for students to take both AS and A-Level exams together.

Today, the Education Minister Peter Weir announced that AS grades this summer will be based on predictions made by teachers, but final exams taken in May and June 2021 will determine a pupil's entire A-Level result.

Image source, NI Assembly

Mr McCamphill told Evening Extra: "The amount of work involved in an A-Level is colossal and I know from 19 years of teaching how tough it was.

"Some high-flying students will be able to manage it, but the amount of work and revision, it would be like studying for six A-Levels rather than three."

While the PSNI has said it is generally not reasonable for people to travel for exercise, the UK-wide National Police Chiefs Council and the College of Policing has said driving to the countryside for exercise is reasonable if more time is spent exercising than driving.

Legal expert Joshua Rosenberg told Evening Extra: "You can take exercise but there's nothing in the regulations that says how you take exercise, what sort of exercise or indeed where you go to exercise."

He said people will interpret "reasonable excuse" in different ways.

"Ultimately it's for the courts to decide and this is the sort of thing, If anybody wanted to, you could challenge in the courts."

He added: "You could also say that if all the police forces in the UK behave in one way and one particular force behaves in another way - in Northern Ireland for example - if they have a particular interpretation that no-one else shares, you could say that's not reasonable."

Image source, Reuters

Dominic Raab says there have been indications that social distancing measures in place are showing success.

However, government advisers say the evidence is "mixed and inconsistent", and in some settings infections are increasing.

He adds: "We still don't have infection rates down as much as we need to.

"Any change to social distancing measures now would risk significant increase in infections," he says, as well as a second peak and an increase in the number of deaths.

Richard Morgan
BBC News NI business reporter

P&O Ferries say its Liverpool to Dublin service has been "indefinitely delayed" after its vessel was prevented from leaving the English port.

The company says Peel Ports presented the ferry company with a sudden demand for payment of almost £600,000.

Peel Ports has been contacted for comment.

The vessel carries food, medicine and other supplies between Liverpool and Dublin.

Image source, P&O

BBC News NI understands some of the freight is destined for Northern Ireland.

A spokesman for P&O says the firm had been in "open discussions" with all ports since the outbreak began to ensure payments can be managed during "this unprecedented situation".

“We had asked for flexibility in the time required to pay but the Liverpool port refused to respond, even though we were committing to full payment," the spokesman says, describing the action as "irresponsible and unnecessary".

The Chief Medical Officer says Northern Ireland is playing its part in UK-wide clinical trials to find effective drug treatments for Covid-19.

Dr Michael McBride told the daily briefing at Stormont that "there's much that we still don't yet know" about the illness.

He said: "Through the international collaboration that's going on between our health professionals right across the world, through science and academia, we are learning more and more about this virus every day".

"In Northern Ireland we are part of UK-wide clinical trials to investigate the effectiveness of new drugs and it's really important that we ensure that people can benefit from entering those trials personally," he said.

"It's going to be many many months before we are at a stage where we have an effective vaccine and part of our strategy in that interim period must be developing our understanding of more effective drug treatments."

Prof Ian Young, the chief scientific advisor to the Dept of Health, said monitoring shows that Northern Ireland is "at or very close" to the peak forecast for 6-20 April in terms of hospital admissions and intensive care occupancy.

"It is possible that we might continue to see a rise in deaths for another week or so," Prof Young said.

Image source, Getty

"The fact that we have reached the peak now and it is perhaps not as bad as previously anticipated is a tribute to the relatively high degree of adherence on the part of all of the public to the social distancing measures in place.

"Nonetheless I need to stress that this is very much on a knife-edge at present.

"It's absolutely vital that people continue to adhere strictly to the measures which are currently in place, even a relatively small departure would be enough for us to see an increase in Covid again

The UK's coronavirus lockdown measures will be extended for at least three more weeks, First Secretary of State Dominic Raab has announced.

The Chief Medical Officer says Northern Ireland still faces "some very difficult and challenging weeks ahead".

Dr Michael McBride also said the next phase in NI's response to Covid-19 could see a return to contact tracing and containment.

He said: "We are now moving through the peak of the current wave of Covid-19 and the impact has been seen in terms of lives lost, in terms of admissions to hospital and into intensive care.

"We don't yet know how long the peak of the pandemic will last here in Northern Ireland, so we need to continue to do what we're doing to protect each other and to protect our health service," he told the daily briefing at Stormont.

He continued: "In the weeks ahead we will be considering how our response needs to change as the pandemic evolves and therefore our response will need to evolve.

"That may include us introducing again some of the measures that we did previously in terms of containment, contact tracing and testing as the virus circulates less widely in the community.

"For now we need to continue what we are doing."

Health Minister Robin Swann says he recognises the difficult circumstances of a family member wanting to be with their loved one "in their final moments".

Mr Swann, who said there were 45 patients in intensive care and more than 100 hospital admissions due to coronavirus yesterday, says there is a significant risk with people visiting patients with Covid-19 and that clinicians have indicated this is too significant a risk in ICU at present.

However, he has asked the NI Critical Care Network to review this.

It comes after Health Secretary Matt Hancock said close families in England would be allowed to say goodbye to loved ones.

Health Minister Robin Swann opens the press briefing by saying it has been a "deeply distressing" day as a further 18 people with coronavirus have died in hospital in NI.

He says NI is in the "midst of the biggest public health crisis in Northern Ireland".

He expresses sympathy to those families who have lost loved ones.

The update was delayed ten minutes beyond its due start time, but Health Minister Robin Swann has begun the daily briefing at Stormont - you can watch live using the play button at the top of the page.

The daily briefing should be happening shortly with Health Minister Robin Swann and NI's chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride set to give an update.

You can watch live by hitting the play button at the top of this page.

Robbie Meredith
BBC News NI Arts and Education Correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Teachers in Northern Ireland will predict the grades they think pupils would have achieved in cancelled GCSE, AS and A-level exams.

Schools will also be asked to rank pupils in each subject from top to bottom.

In a major change, AS grades will be awarded this summer but will not count towards final A-Level results.

An AS score normally makes up 40% of the final A-Level mark in Northern Ireland.

The exams were cancelled following the coronavirus outbreak but it has now been confirmed how grades will be allocated in their absence.

Results at GCSE and A-Level will be compared by the Northern Ireland exams board CCEA to take account of the fact some schools grades may be too generous or harsh.

An appeals process for pupils unhappy with their results will also be developed by CCEA.

Read more here.

Today we've been reporting that family members will be able to visit dying relatives in NI after changes to UK coronavirus guidelines.

Earlier Talkback spoke to Heather Monteverde of Macmillan Cancer Support who welcomed the move but added a note of caution.

"We're in hugely challenging times and currently we don't have the benefit of hindsight in terms of what is the best decision - history will judge that."

Image source, Getty Images

She said it is "important to manage expectations", adding that "these rules, however they may change, may not be for everyone in every setting".

She pointed out "the added complexity that members of the family may also have symptoms".

"So we welcome this being looked at, but let's not raise expectation that things will change dramatically for everyone," she said.

"Instead of using the word catastrophe, I prefer to use the term challenge" - here's Tyrone footballer and primary school teacher Conor Meyler speaking to BBC Sport NI about discussing the outbreak with young children..

He says the use of language is important at this time because of ways the pandemic will affect children.

"They're going to remember this situation forever," he adds.

Iain Henderson has recorded a video to thank the integrated care teams working on the front line.

Integrated care includes social work, district nursing, occupational therapy and care therapy.

The Ulster and Ireland rugby player's mother used to work in the Southern Trust.

Stephen Walker
BBC News NI Political Correspondent

Image source, Pacemaker

The Infrastructure Minister says healthcare staff will get free travel on public transport for the duration of the Covid-19 crisis.

Nichola Mallon made the comments during a meeting at Stormont.

The minister praised the work of healthcare staff and says her department is doing everything to support the fight against Covid-19 at this time.