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Northern Ireland Medical Director Michael McBride has advised the public to prepare for a possible second lockdown.
The Stormont executive yesterday announced local restrictions for the Derry City & Strabane Council area in an effort to stop the spread of Covid-19.
They include hospitality businesses limited to takeout, home delivery and cookout, and a call to avoid unnecessary travel.
The new rules go into effect starting next week, but Foyle SDLP MP Colum Eastwood has urged residents to act now to reduce their contacts.
Dr. McBride said further restrictions are likely in the coming weeks if coronavirus numbers continue to rise, and he did not rule out a brief intensive lockdown known as a circuit breaker.
“I think we have to plan and prepare and analyze the options around a supposed circuit breaker,” he told the BBC.
“In order for us to get through the next few months, we may need to apply more restrictions, perhaps for a short period of a couple of weeks … and then if the virus starts to rise again we may need to reapply some of those broader additional restrictions.
“It is vitally important that we stay abreast of this virus and implement all the tools in our toolbox.
“There is no magic formula here, no hammer that you can pull out to suppress this virus; it is about the combination of interventions, restrictions that reduce the mixing between people.
“There may come a point, if we see very significant transmission at the Northern Ireland level, where we have to move away from local restrictions to broader restrictions at the Northern Ireland level, and that may include a circuit breaker.”
“We have a very narrow window now to act, the consequences would be profound if we don’t,” he added.
Dr McBride said he is “deeply concerned” by the increasing number of cases in the City of Derry and Strabane.
He also expressed concern about the increasing number of cases in the Belfast, Newry, Morne & Down and Mid Ulster Council areas.
He said it is an “extremely and deeply troubling moment.”
“We are seeing a rapidly deteriorating situation in terms of the number of new cases, but also the number of admissions to the hospital and the number of admissions to our intensive care units.
“The number of new cases is doubling every nine days. The number of hospital admissions is doubling every nine days, and we could return to the first wave of people in our hospitals with Covid-19 as soon as three weeks from now.
“We have a very, very short window of opportunity to implement broader restrictions to stop the spread of this virus.”
Yesterday Prime Minister Arlene Foster said that any new period of total lockdown in Northern Ireland should only occur as part of a coordinated move across the UK.
Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill said a shutdown should be held across the island of Ireland if necessary.
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