Northern Ireland to enter six-week lockdown from Boxing Day

Northern Ireland is preparing for a sweeping lockdown and the deployment of paramedics from the Republic of Ireland in an effort to control Covid-19.

Health officials on Thursday proposed a six-week lockdown and approved a plan to reinforce the ambulance service with units from across the border.

The Northern Ireland Executive agreed to the move on Thursday night. The deputy first minister, Michelle O’Neill, said the lockdown would start on Boxing Day and be reviewed after four weeks. “It’s very clear from the positive cases we’re seeing every day that an urgent intervention was required,” she said.

All non-essential retail and close-contact services such as beauty salons are to close, with pubs, cafes and restaurants restricted to takeaway services. There will be no changes made to the Christmas bubbling arrangements but anyone visiting another household must leave by 28 December.

Wales has announced similar restrictions, which start on 24 December.

The developments came as the pandemic claimed another 12 lives in the region, raising the death toll to 1,154, and a further 656 cases were recorded, a sharp rise from previous days. Hospitals are over capacity, forcing ambulances at times to queue outside emergency departments for hours while patients wait to be admitted.

Authorities in Dublin have agreed to in effect lend paramedics from Ireland’s national ambulance service to the Northern Ireland ambulance service (NIAS).

The units, using their own vehicles, are expected to start working across the border from Friday and to operate in Belfast, Craigavon and Lisburn.

“This additional capacity is very welcome and NIAS are extremely grateful to our colleagues in NAS and their staff for agreeing to, for the second time over the past 12 months, lend their support at a challenging time,” the service said in a statement.

It cited “challenges” in serving Northern Ireland because some personnel with or suspected of having Covid-19 had had to self-isolate.

Tom Black, the chair of the British Medical Association in Northern Ireland, warned this week that the region’s health service was facing a “nightmare”. Gabriel Scally, a public health expert and a member of the Independent Sage committee, said Northern Ireland’s government had bungled its handling of the pandemic and that the health service was on the verge of being overwhelmed.

After driving infection rates to the lowest in Europe, far below those of Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland is now also seeing a sharp rise, with the reproduction number between 1.1 and 1.3. Health officials on Thursday proposed curbing a planned relaxation of restrictions over Christmas.