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Restaurants will be allowed to re-open next week with mitigations in place such as two-metre distancing and mask wearing by customers when not sitting at a table. Staff must also wear face coverings.
Restaurants will be allowed to re-open next week with mitigations in place such as two-metre distancing and mask wearing by customers when not sitting at a table. Staff must also wear face coverings. Restaurants will be allowed to re-open next week with mitigations in place such as two-metre distancing and mask wearing by customers when not sitting at a table. Staff must also wear face coverings.

SPECTATORS can attend outdoor sport events from next Friday while libraries and museums will open their doors following the lifting of current circuit breaker restrictions.

Restaurant and bars will be permitted to sell food and alcohol until 10.30pm but must close by 11pm, with "contact details taken from all customers" and "previous mitigations staying in place", according to the Executive paper released last night.

Hotels and guesthouses can also re-open but with restrictions on food and drink sales.

Off-licences opening hours will be extended to 10.30pm as well as supermarkets selling alcohol.

Details of the paper were leaked to the BBC ahead of the easing of the two-week partial lockdown at midnight next Thursday.

So called 'wet pubs' and nightclubs will remain closed while concert halls and theatres must stay shut, apart from being used for rehearsals or recordings.

The paper notes that a maximum limit of 500 people - subject to risk assessment - can attend outdoor gatherings. The same figure applies to spectators attending sports events.

Oudoor exercise for groups of up to 15 people is also allowed while gyms and swimming pools can open for individual training.

Interschool competitive sporting events cannot take place.

Driving instructors are included in the group of "close contact services" that can re-open along with hairdressers and beauticians.

It also emerged yesterday that more restrictions may be needed over the Christmas period if there is a spike in coronavirus cases.

Concerns around the R number, which measures the infection rate, rising beyond 1.8 could result in a mini-lockdown, potentially in the week before New Year due to fears the health service will be overwhelmed.

The north's most senior health officials who advise the Executive, Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride and Chief Scientific Advisor Professor Ian Young, have previously said they will they keep the situation under review and are mindful of the impact of lockdown on society and the economy.

However, both have stressed throughout their pandemic that it is their job to advise Stormont, while ministers must make the "difficult decisions".