Pubs and restaurants will have an 11pm curfew, the Executive has announced.
First Minister Arlene Foster said the 11pm curfew for the hospitality sector will apply from midnight tomorrow and includes an instruction for last orders to be called at 10.30pm.
It will apply to pubs, bars, restaurants, cafés, hotels and guesthouse bars as well as weddings, Ms Foster told the Stormont Assembly.
Mrs Foster said the arrangements will be subject to enforcement.
"No alcohol or food will be served after 10.30pm and all customers must leave by 11.00pm.
"In practice this brings the normal closing times forward by half an hour and there will be no late licences.
"The intention behind the earlier closing time is that socialising later in the evening is considered to increase the risk of virus spreading because people adhere to the rules less strictly after consuming alcohol and in venues where they are used to mixing freely.
"There can be no exceptions to this, so weddings and other important social events will also be required to comply".
In the Republic the new closing time is 11.30pm while in Britain it is 10pm.
"Sales of alcohol from off-licences and supermarkets in Northern Ireland already stop at 11.00pm. This will help ensure a consistent approach in border areas," Ms Foster said.
"Some will make the point that pubs and bars closing at 11.00pm will drive people to house parties and we recognise this risk. However, house parties and gatherings in our homes are illegal - the restrictions already in place ban people from more than one household to be in a private dwelling or more than six people from no more than two households to be in a private garden."
Colin Neill, chief executive of Hospitality Ulster, said he welcomed that the earlier curfew time of 10pm was dismissed by Stormont ministers, but warned the 11pm curfew will still see the sector lose hours.
"We respect that health has to come first, but this curfew and other restrictions must be kept under continuous review," he said.
"The sector is going to lose hours, it's losing staff and it has lost live music and needs to be given a fighting chance.
"A curfew is not ideal, but we in the hospitality sector will do all we can to make this work, which hopefully will be only a temporary measure."
