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Carál Ní Chuilín has announced that he is self-isolating after a relative tested positive
The Minister of Communities, Carál Ní Chuilín, has said that he tested negative for Covid-19, but that he will isolate himself after several family members tested positive.
Earlier on Sunday, the minister said she had told the NI Assembly president that she would work remotely.
Vice Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill also isolates herself after a relative tested positive for Covid-19.
It comes as the Health Department reported 1,066 new cases, with one more death.
This is the second highest daily number of cases reported in Northern Ireland, after 1,080 positive cases were recorded on Friday.
There are now 137 inpatients with Covid-19 in Northern Ireland hospitals, 19 of whom are in intensive care.
The latest figures show that 5,909 people tested positive in the last seven days.
Sunday’s figures for the Republic of Ireland reported 814 new cases in the past 24 hours, with two deaths related to Covid-19.
It brings the total number of coronavirus cases in the Republic to 42,528, with a death toll of 1,826.
‘Alarming increase’
Sinn Féin Vice President Ms O’Neill said she will “continue to isolate herself” after testing negative for Covid.
In a tweet on Sunday night, Ms. Ní Chuilín said she was “isolating herself and working.”
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It came after she earlier tweeted that she had told the assembly speaker that she will “work from home and fulfill my responsibilities.”
Responding on social media, his party colleagues expressed their best wishes.
Ms. O’Neill wrote that she sent her “best wishes to Carál and his family at this difficult time.”
“Carál has done tremendous work supporting vulnerable communities and citizens and will continue to do so remotely,” he wrote.
‘Exceptionally high’
Speaking to BBC News NI, Professor Sam McConkey, head of the Department of International Health and Tropical Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, said the number of cases from Northern Ireland was “exceptionally high”.
“They are among the highest in the UK, and also much higher than most areas in the Republic of Ireland,” he said.
Professor Sam McConkey has said that the increase in Covid-19 cases requires a coordinated response.
“My opinion is that this deterioration in the last three or four days, which is not just one day, is constant for several days, it really requires coordinated action from the leaders.
“Not only political leaders, but also local government leaders and society leaders in Northern Ireland to work together to take action to stop and address this.”
‘Focusing minds’
South Down MP Chris Hazzard said the “alarming rise in infections” was “concentrating the minds” of ministers around the executive table.
He said he believed the lockdown issue would be considered by the Northern Ireland Executive on Monday and said collective action was needed this week.
“I think there was a logic and a sense for the local closures at the same time, but I think we are now moving into an area where we should be looking at a more general closure once again,” he said.
The executive will discuss closure measures Monday, Chris Hazzard said.
“More general rigorous and robust methods to be able to suppress this virus”.
Hazzard told BBC Northern Ireland’s Sunday Politics program that health should come first.
“There is no strong economy without strong public health,” he said.
The Republic’s European Affairs Minister Thomas Byrne said the Irish government “is clearly considering” a circuit breaker.
Speaking on the same program, he said that a closer alignment between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland was needed regarding this discussion.
Byrne said that Taoiseach Michéal Martin was working closely with Prime Minister Arlene Foster, Deputy Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill and Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“I think you will find that it will intensify even more in the coming days,” he said.
“I think it’s really important because we are in a public health crisis.
“NI is ahead of the Republic of Ireland at the moment, but clearly our track record in numbers is not great either.
“This island should be treated as a single epidemiological unit at this time, our public health problems are much more important than any other consideration.”
Byrne said Ireland’s advice on essential travel was clear: “If you’re in Dundalk, we don’t want you to go to Castleblaney and we don’t want you to go to Newry, and obviously the advice is valid in every way.
The Minister of European Affairs of the Republic, Thomas Byrne, has called for a more comprehensive approach
“If you’re in Donegal, don’t go to Derry, but don’t go to Leitrim either.”
QUB virologist Dr. Lindsay Broadbent said the “big jump” in Covid-19 hospital admissions in the last week “means it’s time to do something.”
“That’s what’s really worrying. We can watch the case numbers, that’s part of it,” Stephen Raney told BBC Radio Ulster.
“The most important thing we have to watch is how many people are in the hospital.” Hospital admissions are what follows that surge in deaths, and that’s really what we’re trying to prevent. “
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