Thank you for joining our live coverage of Sir Michael McBride's evidence before the Covid-19 Inquiry on Friday.

We have further coverage on the BBC News NI website here.

What are the key points from Sir Michael McBride's testimony?

• The chief medical officer rejects that he strayed into politics during the pandemic and he was surprised if a perception existed his role was more than advisory
• Northern Ireland was less resilient for Covid-19 than it was for the H1N1 outbreak in 2009, he says
• In the early days of Covid-19 Sir Michael explains there was a high level of uncertainty about transmission
• NI benefited from the UK-wide lockdown announcement when there were fewer cases than elsewhere
• Bobby Storey's funeral gathering and high profile breaches of guidance caused "a great deal of hurt", he outlines
• Sir Michael calls for closer cooperation with the Irish government on civil contingencies

Sir Michael says he wished that testing in care homes could have been better.

"The minister was very clear of the priority he afforded the testing in care homes and very clear in his direction to us to roll that out as quickly as we could and we did," he continues.

"Do I wish I could have rolled it out quicker? Of course I do."

Sir Michael says that professional cooperation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland could not have been better and while there were challenges they were worked through.

But, he says, if there is another pandemic in the future, there should be "closer interconnection" when it comes to contingency measures between the two with a two-island, five-nation approach.

He says: "Trying to control the pandemic in the UK, in Northern Ireland or in the Republic of Ireland does not work, it has to be a global response."

The PSNI did a "good job in very challenging circumstances", Sir Michael says when discussing the enforcement of Covid-19 restrictions.

Clair Dobbin asked the chief medical officer if there was concern about significantly robust policing at the time.

Dr McBride adds he had regular calls with senior police and it was known they "couldn't police this virus into submission".

Image source, EPA

Sir Michael is then asked about decisions made around Christmas time in 2020 for small groups to meet.

He says at that stage the population had been in lockdown for about 40 weeks, and that they were "hugely concerned" about the damage this was doing in terms of mental health and wellbeing.

He says there was "genuine concern" and that Justice Minister Naomi Long had noted in an Executive meeting on 8 October that the public were beginning to lose hope.

"I think that was the case, there was a sense of no way out of this," he adds.

"It was a very difficult time undoubtedly for the population, everyone working in the health service and I think there was a general sense is there ever going to be an end to this?"

During questioning over a four-week period of restrictions that were due to lapse on 12 November 2020, the chief medical officer became tearful recalling an "extremely difficult" meeting two-days prior.

Referencing potential consequences of the lapsed restrictions, Dr McBride became emotional as he noted a man in his 40s who had said goodbye to his children over FaceTime.

"My sense was the need to understand the consequences of decisions," he adds.

Sir Michael says it was an "extremely difficult time" during the early months of the pandemic.

He explains his daughter was working in intensive care as an anaesthetist and he had other friends and family working across the health service.

Staff in hospitals and care homes were "burnt out", he adds.

Media reporting during the pandemic became a distraction, Sir Michael says.

He says "almost real-time leaking" of information was undermining the Executive's efforts.

That created "distrust" and "significantly impeded the timings of decisions", he continues.

The chief medical officer is asked by Ms Dobbin about the funeral of republican Bobby Storey on 30 June 2020 and the impact it may have had at the time.

He starts by saying he is not in a position to give an objective assessment of the impact.

Some senior Sinn Féin figures were criticised for their attendance at the funeral in west Belfast.

Sir Michael says he was concerned about high profile breaches of guidance by those who were seen to be leading the response to the pandemic across the UK.

"Anything that suggested one rule for us and a different rule for someone else I think was extremely problematic," he says.

Image source, Pacemaker

Dr McBride says the funeral and other breaches created a "great deal of hurt, anger and also had the potential to undermine public confidence in what we were asking people to do".

"I was concerned about the discordance of those images and indeed other high profile individuals across the UK who had similarly not followed the advice which was there for everyone."

Clair Dobbin KC says she wishes to round-up this period of time and asks about the UK-wide lockdown announced on 23 March 2020.

Sir Michael says it was a "busy day" and in the days previous there were meetings from the 16 March about the "need to go further".

He says there was a Sage meeting, followed by Cobra on 23 March and "things were moving very quickly".

He adds that Northern Ireland benefited from the lockdown announcement date with a lower number of cases by then compared to other areas.

The inquiry is shown a transcript of messages between the chief medical officer and Health Minister Robin Swann on 17 March 2020.

They discuss the inevitability of school closures, with Dr McBride saying former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon wanted to "steal the march" by closing schools.

Ms Dobbin puts it to Dr McBride that this exchange is a "significant move away from the provision of medical advice to a minister and quite firmly entering the political realm".

However, he argues there was a public confidence issue in the early days of the pandemic, and he was under "significant pressure" to change his advice given the Republic of Ireland had taken different decisions.

"Parents were voting with their feet at that time, in terms of some parents were taking their children out of school," he says.

"In my view, we risk them losing the consistent messaging and I think that equally would have applied across the UK."

Image source, Reuters

Next, Dr McBride is asked about the change in policy that schools should close on 18 March.

At a meeting two days prior, it was agreed schools should not be closed.

He refers to a Sage meeting held close to 13 March when it was found the UK was much further into the pandemic than was realised as there was not enough testing.

It was also found there was a "huge pressure" already on the health service and that it was about to be overwhelmed.

It was agreed at a Sage meeting on 16 March they would remodel the impact on schools, Dr McBride says.

Two days later the newest advice from the Sage meeting was to "close schools as soon as possible".

"That reflects the speed at which the change in decision happened and I reflected that in the advice I provided," he adds.

The inquiry is shown an exchange of messages in June 2020 between the chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser in which they discuss a request for information by then-Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots.

Mr Poots had called Sir Michael, he writes, to ask about a drive-in concert by the singer Peter Corry and whether eating beside cars with space around the vehicles was allowed.

Dr McBride says this was an unusual and non-typical approach.

However, he says "ministers would have made contact about certain aspects during the pandemic".

By 10 March a number of large events had been cancelled in Northern Ireland, including St Patrick's Day parades.

Clair Dobbin KC says "super-spreader" events were stopped by organisers rather than because of public health advice against holding them.

Sir Michael responds that Sage advice "at that time" was that they did not see mass events as making a significant contribution to the virus.

He adds that cancelling mass events may have led people to come together indoors instead.

Image source, Pacemaker

In an email sent on 7 March 2020, Dr McBride says Northern Ireland does not have the "modelling capability" to get the information requested by the Cabinet Office on different departments.

He also called the deadlines given by the cabinet as "unrealistic" to provide meaningful analysis and referred to it as a "marathon not a sprint".

But Ms Dobbin puts it to the chief medical officer that it was a sprint by this point in time.

He agrees, but he says his team had been "sprinting" for seven weeks and there was a question over if information gathered could be delivered in a realistic timeframe or if it would have a materialistic use.

Image source, Pacemaker

The inquiry is shown an email from Chris Stewart (The Executive Office) which suggests Sir Michael expressed "irritation and caution on the prospect of departing from" advice from the UK Foreign Office on travel issues in early March 2020.

Mr Stewart writes it might be "prudent" to advise the first and deputy first ministers to "soft pedal any raising of differences between UK and Irish advice".

Image source, Covid Inquiry

Dr McBride is asked about minutes of a meeting that took place towards the end of February 2020.

In it, it states the priorities are the identification of isolation facilities, legislation, storage for excess deaths and reviewing business continuity plans for the worst case parameters.

It is put to Dr McBride the minutes indicate there is no sense of urgency across government in Northern Ireland.

But he says the note does not reflect the totality of the meeting where measures such as school closures and economic impact were discussed.

"I don't think that there could have been any doubt... in terms of the enormity of the potential consequences," he tells the inquiry.

Sir Michael McBride tells the inquiry the sequencing of pandemic planning would be an assessment of the risk after a new virus emerged, followed by establishing the likelihood of person-to-person transmission.

It would then involve asking if there has been evidence this had been sustained, then questioning the "probability/likelihood" it may develop into a pandemic.

"We feared the worst but we weren't yet certain at that stage in terms of how things would develop," he says.

The hearing has resumed. You can watch it live by clicking play at the top of this page.