Image source, Eleanor Cross

Play parks across the Fermanagh and Omagh District Council area will reopen to the public from Friday 10 July.

Preparations are currently ongoing to ensure that appropriate measures are in place so that the play areas can reopen safely, the council said.

“I would encourage all parents and guardians who bring their children to the play areas to continue to exercise caution with regard to the need to avoid large crowds and observe current social distancing advice," said Chris Smyth, chairman of the council.

"I would also ask that visitors to the play areas continue to practise good hand hygiene as advised by the Department of Health and carry hand sanitiser with them,” he added.

You can now visit relatives and friends in care homes, but there are guidelines around this.

Philip Scott, from Three Rivers Care Home in Omagh, told Good Morning Ulster what steps you must go through in order to do this.

"We have a dedicated space where a family member is invited to come by arrangement," he said.

"When they get to the entrance of his home they have to go through a screening process that includes standing in front of a camera which automatically takes their body temperature.

"They then put on PPE and wash their hands," he said.

When in the room the families must maintain social distancing - two metres from the resident.

When the guest leaves staff come in clean the room before the next appointment.

Image source, PA Media

He said yesterday had been ”huge emotional relief” for residents and families.

However Mr Scott said he was "appalled" by PM Boris Johnson's comments that "too many care homes didn't really follow the procedures".

"That is not fair or true," said Mr Scott.

"There just wasn't enough preparation from the government", he added.

A Covid-19 tracker app, which will help identify close contacts of people who test positive for the disease, is to be launched in Ireland.

It is expected that the app will facilitate contact tracing, symptom tracking and contain other information about the virus.

It will be officially launched by the new Irish Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly at 11:00 local time.

Yesterday, for the second day in a row, no further deaths were reported in the Republic from Covid-19.

It can be downloaded from covidtracker.gov.ie.

After the news that indoor weddings will now be allowed from 10 July, Good Morning Ulster spoke to bride-to-be, Hannah Walsh, who was due to be married in June and will now get married on 10 August

“I’m starting to get excited again but I'm nearly scared to get excited in case there is something that comes along or happens,” she told the programme.

She had invited about 100 people, but says it seems unlikely that many will be able to come to the new date.

“I would imagine it will look smaller and probably just be immediate family and very very close friends but it depends how many the hotel can fit in with social distancing," she said.

Image source, PA Media

Karen Bell, who is a humanist celebrant, said since the news was announced that she has “had an inbox full of emails”.

“There are couples who see this as a green light and are so, so excited to go ahead, but there are couples that have made that decision to postpone to next year.

"No matter the guidelines, there are so many couples that just don't feel comfortable, as they say they're going to be putting their elderly relatives at risk, people they want to be there," she added.

Image source, Google

Some pubs in England have closed after customers tested positive for coronavirus.

At least three establishments announced they had shut their doors again just days after reopening at the weekend.

They were among hundreds of venues that welcomed customers for the first time in three months as lockdown measures were eased.

Crowds descended in some towns and cities, prompting fears social distancing was being disregarded.

Read more.

Translink staff are handing out face masks to passengers this morning.

The wearing of face coverings on most buses, trains and ferries will be mandatory in Northern Ireland from Friday.

There are exemptions for those with medical conditions.

It will not apply to children under the age of 13, or on school transport.

Pubs here that do not serve food or are not able to serve drinks outside need a “reopening date now”, Hospitality Ulster head Colin Neill says.

He says traditional wet pubs – those which focus on the sale of alcohol – have been left in the lurch while other pubs here reopened last weekend.

“Our wet only pubs needed a date for reopening last week and it is hugely frustrating that another executive meeting has passed without clarity on this issue," he says.

Image source, Hospitality Ulster

"We are calling on ministers to provide a reopening date or financial assistance now. Without this, businesses will go under, resulting in thousands of staff having to be made redundant,” he says.

He says these businesses “feel let down and left behind as others embark on their recovery plans”.

If it is not possible to set a date for reopening, he says the executive “must provide immediate financial support to sustain them in the difficult days and weeks ahead”.

News yesterday that Northern Ireland was to receive £33m as part of a UK government support package for arts venues was welcomed by the sector.

However, it is not certain that the money will be enough for everyone that needs it.

Charlotte Dryden, the CEO of the Oh Yeah Centre in Belfast, told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme that the announcement is “very welcome” but the “devil is going to be in the detail”.

"Every festival and promoter globally almost are not even thinking about live events until next spring," she said.

"I would say that if we don’t get help it will be next spring when things are going to be incredibly difficult, and the end of October when we are going to have to make very difficult decisions about staff."

Image source, Reuters

Conor Shields, who is the head of the Community Arts Partnership, said there is a real concern for low-earning workers in the sector.

"A few years ago we had a survey that was saying that some people in the sector are only earning £7,000 or £8,000 a year, they’re not even reaching tax thresholds," he said.

"Now if some people haven’t been paid since the start of March and are unlikely to be paid again until next March, you can imagine how distressing and how desperate times are for them."

Official government advice against all non-essential travel from Ireland is to remain in place until 20 July.

A requirement for people arriving in the Republic of Ireland from overseas to quarantine for 14 days, external was to be lifted on Thursday.

The Irish government had planned to publish a "green list" of countries, but this has now been delayed to 20 July following concerns about surges of the virus in other countries.

Image source, PA

Mr Martin said Ireland will "develop a methodology" in terms of assessing which countries might be on a green list, in terms of travelling to and from Ireland.

He said countries on this list would have "the same disease status, or similar disease status to Ireland".

The list will be reviewed every fortnight.

Speaking at a post-cabinet media briefing on Monday, Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) Micheál Martin said that there will be no changes on travel to and from Northern Ireland.

Read more here.

Yesterday it was announced that indoor weddings can go ahead, from this Friday.

At the moment they're limited to outdoor venues, with a maximum of 10 people.

So what difference is this going to make to people who host weddings?

Brendan Duddy, a hotelier from Derry, says the executive has taken a “very sensible approach” on this decision.

“The reality is each venue and location is going to have specific plans and risks so trying to have a one size fits all provision can't really work,” he told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster.

Image source, PA

Mr Duddy said this approach would allow for risk assessments, something that hotels and hospitality workers, by now, understand well.

"They've generally shown that they are able to make the right decisions for their staff and for their customers to move forward," he added.

While there may be those who just can't wait and will tie the knot on Friday, he said the guidance will mostly "allow plans for weeks and months ahead".

Everyone should wear a face covering when they leave home in order to tackle coronavirus, the president of the UK's national academy of science has said.

Prof Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, president of the Royal Society, said there was evidence that they protected both the wearer and those around them.

The UK was "way behind" many countries in their usage, he said.

Public Health England has previously said coverings did not need to be worn outdoors.

There are mixed feelings among the experts on the government's scientific advisory group, SAGE, around the use of face coverings.

Read more.

Image source, Pacemaker

Hello and welcome to our rolling coverage of coronavirus in Northern Ireland on Tuesday 7 July.

Stay with us and we will bring you all the latest news.