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Northern Ireland could become the first UK region to impose an “automatic switch” lockdown to try to curb the second wave of COVID-19.
Twice in three days the number of new cases has exceeded 1,000 and the Borough of Derry and Strabane is fighting the biggest infection Speed.
Senior staff in the COVID ward at Altnagelvin Hospital in Londonderry say things are worse now than this time in the spring.
Martin Kelly, a respiratory consultant, asked, “Where are we going to be if this keeps happening? We are going to have great difficulties.
Lisneal College has eight sick or isolated teachers
“As of today, and I have just come from the ward, we are struggling to find beds for people who come to the emergency department with acute COVID discomfort,” he added.
COVID, rather than Brexit, has seen a return of police checks to the Northern Ireland-Republic border as people are advised to avoid all but essential travel.
SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, MP, whose constituency includes much of Derry, says there is now a desperate need for an island-wide response to the health crisis.
He said, “This virus it does not understand or recognize international borders. We need to act together. Every time we act together, it has been almost accidental. The North executive and the Dublin government must do the same.
“Now we are in the territory where we need to give people some hope that we have a Christmas out of this and that can mean a very strong shutdown for a few weeks,” he added.
Lisneal College has eight sick or isolated teachers after contact, but the principal says keeping schools open is essential to track and trace.
Michael Allen said: “We know where the children are. We can track, we have strict protocols at school, we can monitor that.
“I’d be concerned that a circuit breaker could lead these kids to basically go out and socialize normally and then the crawl completely falls apart,” he warned.
In Northern Ireland, the number of positive test results now doubles every seven days and the number of hospital admissions every nine days.
If they stay on that trajectory, hospitals like Altnagelvin will be two weeks away from having more patients than during the first wave.
