Covid-19 Stormont briefing hears relaxation of blockade will be ‘cautious and gradual’



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The reduction of the Covid-19 blockade will be “cautious and gradual,” as the public was warned today, “please do not take matters into your own hands.”

Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill spoke as she and Prime Minister Arlene Foster confirmed that the Executive has met to discuss how closure guidelines may be altered in the future.

Ms. O’Neill said she expects the closure exit plan to be released soon, possibly this week.

But he warned that once the relaxation of the blockade begins, the public will have to maintain social distancing. She said any relaxation cannot be seen as a “green light” for the public to “behave as they choose.”

Sinn Fein’s Deputy Leader said she believes there are “difficulties presented in setting dates” for lifting certain blocking restrictions, adding that she will be guided by scientific advice.

Arlene Foster said the Executive “continues to make progress,” but that there is a “focus on getting it right.”

The DUP leader said we will have to “learn to live with the virus while continuing to suppress it” and that any “relaxation” of the restrictions will be “scientific and proportionate.”

Part of the planning process, Ms. Foster added, would be “determining which areas would get the most benefit” from any relaxation of the blockade.

But he added that when the Executive “contemplates relaxing” the confinement, they are “very aware of the danger that members of the public will be distracted” and “suppose they can behave as before.”

People, said Arlene Foster, “cannot act as if the Coronavirus is hit, it is not.” But she said that the Executive does not want to maintain the restrictions “for longer than necessary.”

When asked if there is any chance of schools opening soon, Arlene Foster said there would be a “side effect” in other areas of life, such as transportation, and that parents would go to work, so the return of Schools is “part of the whole plan that the Executive is working on.”

Both the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Ministers insisted that the plans must be “guided” by science and that keeping the “R” number or the speed at which the virus spreads below 1 is essential.



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