Coronavirus: Eastwood in urgent call as virus spreads in north west

A queue demonstrating social distancing outside a butchers in Derry during lockdown.

There is an urgent "need to act quickly" over the surging number of Covid-19 cases in Northern Ireland's north west, an MP has said.

The number of cases in the Derry and Strabane council area per 100,000 of population is more than double that of the NI-wide figure.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood told the Nolan Show he will be discussing the issue with Health Minister Robin Swann.

The Foyle MP said everyone had a part to play in controlling the virus.

The number of cases in the Derry and Strabane area has continued to rise sharply in recent days - it now has 235 positive cases per 100,000 inhabitants.

• 'Avoid all but necessary travel across NI-Donegal border'

• Why are Covid-19 cases spiking in NI's north west?

The rate across Northern Ireland is 80 cases per 100,000, according to Department of Health figures.

Meanwhile, tighter localised restrictions in the neighbouring county of Donegal in the Republic of Ireland came into effect last Friday.

"It (coronavirus) is back and it is back in a big way. The way we stopped it the last time was by acting quickly, we need to act quickly now," Mr Eastwood told the Nolan Show.

The Foyle MP added: "We will speak to the executive about how that gets done from a government point of view. But again, none of that will matter unless we act individually, within our families, and within our communities."

As of Friday, the Department of Health had recorded a total of 756 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Derry and Strabane District Council area - 316 of those were reported last week alone.

There have been no coronavirus-linked deaths in the region since 30 May.

Lockdown 'a backwards step'

Stricter public health restrictions came into effect across all of Northern Ireland last week.

People cannot visit others in their homes and no more than six people from two households are allowed to gather in a private garden.

Mr Eastwood said he hoped further and more localised restrictions in Derry and Strabane could be avoided.

He said he would discuss what was possible with the health minister.

Foyle DUP MLA Gary Middleton also called on people in the region to accept greater personal responsibility.

"A full lockdown in my opinion may not be the answer," he told the Nolan Show.

"That would be a backwards step."

The stricter localised restrictions in Donegal - which has also has seen a sharp rise in cases recently - are in place until 16 October.

Thousands of people cross between Northern Ireland and Donegal daily

On Friday, the chief medical officers from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland advised against all but necessary travel across the NI-Donegal border.

Deirdre Harkin, who lives in Strabane - a Northern Ireland town that borders Donegal - knows how devastating coronavirus can be, having tested positive at the start of the national lockdown.

She has called on people on both sides of the border to take the current public heath measures seriously.

"It was like nothing else I ever suffered. It was really terrifying," Ms Harkin told BBC Radio Foyle.

"The fever was the worst, I started to hallucinate very badly.

"I was extremely warm, I'd take off my dressing gown, and I was extremely cold. There was no in between."

Public complacency now has her very worried, she added.

"It frightens me that people are so complacent about it, just open your eyes and have a bit of respect for people around you.

"I am just begging people, do the simple steps," she said.

'A price worth paying'

For many people in the border region, much of their life - including work and socialising - takes place on the other side of the border to where they live.

Ruairí O'Kane, who is originally from Londonderry but now lives in the village of Muff in Donegal, said the north west's surge in cases was "a wake-up call".

"Apart from our home life, every other aspect of life is in the north: (Our) family are in the north, it's where we would shop and socialise," he said.

Ruairí O'Kane, pictured with son Lucas, said the rising number of north-west cases was a wake-up call

"From the previous lockdown we all took it extremely seriously, perhaps we did look at where we could push an exceptional circumstance to make that journey into the north.

"But I think this time around, I'll not be crossing the border at all in the next three weeks, so we'll hopefully get through this."

He said that over the weekend he noticed a marked decline in the number of NI-registered cars in the village.

Living under tighter restrictions, he added, was a price worth paying to control the virus.

Meanwhile SDLP MLA Cara Hunter has welcomed the suspension of the Greencastle to Magilligan ferry in light of increased Covid transmission rates in the north west.

Ms Hunter also said she understands the Melvin Sports Complex in Strabane will be used for Covid testing.

There have been concerns about how far people in the area had to travel for tests.

The SDLP MLA was speaking on the East Londonderry edition of Inside Politics Q&A which will be available on the BBC NI News website later on Monday.