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A four-week “circuit breaker” lockout in Northern Ireland will take effect on Friday in a bid to halt the rise in coronavirus infections.
Prime Minister Arlene Foster confirmed the move in a statement, saying the mid-term vacation for schools will be extended and now run for two weeks, from October 19-30.
Pubs and restaurants will also have to close, unless they offer take-out service, but places of worship and gyms may remain open.
Northern Ireland to enter a four-week lockdown
It comes after a Stormont Executive Meeting which lasted until the early hours of this morning.
The Derry and Strabane Council area, which has additional restrictions, has experienced the highest infection rate in the UK and Ireland, with a seven-day average of 970 cases per 100,000 people.
The restrictions include:
- Household bubbles should not be greater than 10 people from two households.
- Overnight stays in other homes are prohibited.
- Closure of “close contact services” (unless necessary for essential health reasons)
- Indoor sports of all kinds suspended, except at the elite level
- Mass events involving more than 15 people should be banned
- Outside of licenses and supermarkets it will not be allowed to sell alcohol after 8 pm
- Hospitality sector to close, in addition to takeaway services
- No unnecessary trips should be made
- Universities and higher education providers should provide distance education as much as possible
- People are required to work from home where they can
- The gyms will remain open for individual training.
- Places of worship must remain open as long as face covers are worn.
- Wedding ceremonies and civil partnerships will be limited to 25 people with no receptions starting October 19.
- Funerals and engagements will be limited to 25 people with no pre-funeral or post-funeral meetings
- Retail can stay open
The restrictions will initially last four weeks, and any extension will require a decision from the Northern Ireland Executive.
Ms. Foster said of the new restrictions: “We fully appreciate that this will be difficult and worrying news for many people.
“The Executive has made this decision because it is necessary, and we discuss the impacts in great detail. We do not take this step lightly.
“We need to get to a different place both in numbers and in getting back to the basics of social distancing and I know everyone will want to work with us on that.
“Small acts can have large and important contributions to the management of COVID-19.”
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Welsh Prime Minister Mark Drakeford told Kay Burley on Sky News that he was considering a similar move, while Therese Coffey, the secretary for labor and pensions, minimized perspective of a similar movement in England.
Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on the government to impose a brief lockdown, accusing him of losing control of the pandemic.
Analysis: ‘Stormont had no choice’
By David Blevins, Ireland Senior Correspondent
It’s not a race Northern Ireland would like to win – the first entire UK region to impose so-called breaker lockout.
But with Derry and Strabane Council District still having the highest infection rate in the UK, Stormont had no other choice.
The two largest parties in the decentralized government, the DUP and Sinn Fein, fought to agree on the closure of schools.
In the end, they got engaged: They extended the vacation from half a period to two weeks instead of the full four weeks of the last shutdown.
It’s not a return to the strict restrictions imposed in March – shops and places of worship will remain open with mitigations.
There is often division in the power-sharing coalition, but they need to present a united front for these measures to be effective.
