Chief Medical Officer cautions ‘the virus has not gone away’

Good afternoon
Northern Ireland looks as if it won’t make an immediate change to its social distancing guidelines despite the prime minister’s big announcement on Tuesday afternoon.
Boris Johnson confirmed that social distancing in England is to be reduced from two metres to one metre as he outlined that restaurants, pubs and hairdressers will reopen in England from July 4.
However, during this afternoon’s Stormont media briefing, both health minister Robin Swann and chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride, confirmed there will be no immediate change here in Northern Ireland.
Mr Swann did leave the way open for a change soon however, hinting that there could be developments as early as Thursday when the Executive meets again. Arlene Foster said on Twitter that the social distancing announcement from the government was “very significant”.
The discussion came amidst the backdrop of the latest coronavirus statistics being released by the Department of Health.
One more person with Covid-19 has died in Northern Ireland while significantly, once again not a single new case of coronavirus was recorded here over a 24-hour period. Two people with Covid-19 remain in intensive care.
Alistair Bushe, Editor
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