Ministerial talks were continuing late on Tuesday night at Stormont on formulating a response to the rising incidence of Covid-19 in Northern Ireland as seven more deaths and 863 cases of the virus were reported.
The latest figures bring the total number of coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic to 598 and the total number of positive cases to 21,898.
In the past seven days 6,286 people tested positive for coronavirus, almost 900 a day.
There are now 150 people in Northern Ireland hospitals being treated for Covid-19, with 23 in intensive care units and 15 on ventilators.
By far the highest incidence of the disease is in the Derry and Strabane council area which, over the past week, saw 970 cases per 100,000 of the population.
This is more than double the incidence of the next highest area, Belfast, which is experiencing 462 cases per 100,000 followed by mid-Ulster with 401 cases per 100,000.
The lowest number of cases is in the mid and east Antrim council area – 95 cases per 100,000 – and Ards and north Down – 135 cases per 100,000.
Disagreement
Against this rise in deaths and cases, the Northern Executive was due to meet on Tuesday afternoon to discuss imposing greater restrictions, but due to disagreement this was put back to late on Tuesday night.
Instead, according to sources, Ministers at Stormont sought to achieve a compromise set of restrictions before calling a formal meeting of the Executive to ratify the new proposals.
Sources said the North’s chief medical and science officers, Dr Michael McBride and Prof Ian Young, had recommended an imminent four to six week lockdown period with a further similar lockdown in the new year.
With the R number – the number of people to whom each infected person transmits the virus – between 1.3 and 1.8, Dr McBride and Prof Young urged action to bring the number below one.
They argued, according to Stormont sources, that to achieve this figure the hospitality sector should be severely restricted and/or schools closed for a period of up to six weeks.
They said the R number could not be brought below one if both sectors remained fully open, sources added.
Economic concerns
Sources said Sinn Féin was pushing for a more stringent lockdown while the DUP wanted schools to remain open, and that it also had concerns about how stricter regulations would affect the economy.
In advance of the Executive meeting, First Minister Arlene Foster told the Northern Assembly that Ministers were “collectively very concerned about the rise in transmission across Northern Ireland”.
“Whilst we of course have to halt the rise of Covid-19, and that of course is something that we are all concerned about, it is important that we take a proportionate and balanced approach,” she said.
“Some people have said it is about health versus wealth, I think that is a completely false analysis. Our own chief medical officer back in May this year made the point that poverty kills and unemployment kills as well.
“Therefore, it is a balancing act between making sure that we deal with Covid-19 but that we also try to protect our economy, that we try to protect our society as we know it and, indeed, family life as we know it. So, these are huge decisions. None of it is easy,” she added.
