Coronavirus: Robin Swann urges 'unity' to push down spread in NI

Health Minister Robin Swann says the greatest gift people can give loved ones this year is to look after them

Now is the "time to unite" across Northern Ireland in order to push down the spread of Covid-19, Health Minister Robin Swann has said.

He was speaking two days before tougher lockdown restrictions come into force for two weeks.

On Wednesday, seven more Covid-19 related deaths were recorded by the Department of Health.

That brings the total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Northern Ireland to 954.

Speaking at a press conference at Stormont, Mr Swann said if everyone in Northern Ireland follows the lockdown rules, it will make a difference leading up to Christmas.

"Our actions now will have a bearing on the kind of Christmas we can all have," he said.

"The greatest gift we can give loved ones this year is to look after them.

"Some restrictions may be relaxed coming up to Christmas but maximum vigilance will still be required - a festive free-for-all would mean a New Year crisis."

The minister acknowledged the importance of Christmas to many people but said there was "still work to do", before people could enjoy a break.

He warned that people should also follow the "stay at home" guidance as much as possible.

Northern Ireland's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Michael McBride, said undoubtedly allowing people to bubble with three households over Christmas "carried some risk" and would lead to an increase in cases.

But he said he recognised that relaxing household restrictions temporarily would benefit many people and their mental health, given the isolation experienced this year due to the pandemic.

A total of 533 new positive cases of Covid-19 were recorded by the Department of Health on Wednesday.

It said this was higher than normal due to an issue with the "flow of data" from Pillar 2 testing on Tuesday when it recorded just 79 new positive cases.

There have been 50,676 positive cases in Northern Ireland since the pandemic began, with 2,421 people testing positive in the last seven days.

There are currently 443 people with Covid-19 being treated in Northern Ireland, 36 of those are in intensive care units (ICU).

Overall bed capacity within the health service is currently at 98%, with two hospitals - the Ulster and the Causeway - operating beyond their capacity.

Dr McBride said the R-number, the rate of coronavirus transmission, remains around one, and that Northern Ireland's hospitals remain under "significant pressure".

"We now have a lower incidence than England and Wales, but the incidence here in Northern Ireland remains higher than the Republic of Ireland," he added.

These two weeks are absolutely critical in trying to get the R number down.

It has moved slightly below one, but health authorities want it down a lot further, and that will depend on what we all do over the next couple of weeks.

If we get R down over the next fortnight, there's a better chance of the hospitality sector opening up.

The chief medical officer has said hospitality can't stay closed indefinitely, but clearly it won't reopen until the R number comes down.

Northern Ireland's Covid statistics are starting to come down a little bit.

The number of deaths has come down; the number of people in intensive care units has come down and - quite dramatically - outbreaks care homes have come down a lot, reducing by about 20 care homes over the last week or so.

So that's all very good, but what is different this time around is the very high number of people who remain in hospital.

That's because we know more about how to treat people - more people are surviving which is a good thing.

That means our hospitals are still very, very busy

The department also reported there are 140 active care home outbreaks of the virus in Northern Ireland.

Mr Swann said he did not believe that the doors of care homes in Northern Ireland should be closed to visits, in order to manage Covid-19 infections.

It follows reports that some care homes are not facilitating access for families to visit loved ones.

Guidance on visiting care homes and hospitals changed in October, with visits limited to one family member once a week.

Mr Swann said "contact is so important", and said he wanted more care homes to facilitate visits or arrange "care partners" for families wanting to spend time with their relatives.

A vaccine trial by AstraZeneca and Oxford University involved 30,000 volunteers

Speaking about the potential upcoming vaccination programme, Mr Swann said "intensive preparation" is under way for a mass vaccination programme in Northern Ireland.

He said he would bring a presentation to the executive on Thursday about what that programme could look like.

The minister added that all authorisation and checks would need to be carried out before vaccines could be administered.

Mr Swann added that 600 people, including retired health care workers, have come forward to volunteer as vaccinators.

This compares to 880 vaccinators currently working in the health trusts.

There is a light at the end of this long tunnel," said the health minister, stressing that nothing should be taken for granted.