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“No one should be in any doubt whatsoever about the urgency and seriousness of the situation we are currently now facing into, with the 23% increase in cases in the last week and a 19% increase in hospital admissions with Covid. “The next couple of weeks are going to be very, very challenging,” he told the Nolan Show. The CMO stressed the virus is unpredictable, and while officials can model scenarios, much depends on whether the public follow health guidelines. On the same day there were 419 Covid-positive patients in hospital, with 34 in intensive care. He said people did not need to cancel scheduled Christmas parties at this stage but advised them to take precautions to minimise risk, such as taking a lateral flow test prior to attending.Ī further six deaths of patients who had previously tested positive for Covid-19 and another 1,681 cases of the virus were notified in Northern Ireland on Thursday. “We’re still not at the levels of Covid that we saw last winter… the hospitals have contingency plans in place and those plans are being activated but if the Covid numbers rise more significantly then even those plans may not be sufficient.”Īsked about the Department of Health proposal to strengthen working from home guidance, Mr McBride said evidence indicated that was potentially “one of the single most effective interventions”. “In about three to four weeks’ time if we don’t take any action then it looks as if the hospitals would be at risk of being overwhelmed. “We’re seeing a strong upward trajectory of cases in Northern Ireland and that’s a pattern that we’re seeing in the Republic of Ireland and also in many countries across western Europe as we move into the winter,” he told the Nolan Show. He indicated those would include restrictions or closures in some sectors, but that closing retail would be unlikely.
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Northern Ireland’s chief scientific adviser, Professor Ian Young (Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye) The region’s chief scientific adviser, Professor Ian Young, said there is a “menu of measures” that are known to be effective that can be recommended to the Stormont Executive in mid-December if the situation deteriorates. Mr McBride said the easing of restrictions in the hospitality sector at the end of October had led to a “very significant uptick in cases”. “If we don’t act now and if we don’t act decisively, unfortunately we may well be back advising the Executive that further interventions are needed to prevent our health service being overwhelmed.” “I do not think that we will go back to the damaging impact of lockdowns, however we may need to consider our wider restrictions in certain environments and sectors where we know the risks are higher,” he said.
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He said the vaccination programme meant a lockdown was less likely. “I don’t think that we’ll go back to the situation that we had before, back in March last year, when we had that lockdown,” he told BBC Radio Ulster.