ARLENE Foster has belatedly sought to draw a line under the controversy that has raged over Edwin Poots suggesting that coronavirus is more prevalent among nationalists.
But the agriculture minister's effort to defuse the row triggered by last Friday's claim that Covid-19 cases in nationalist areas outnumbered those in unionist areas by "six-to-one" was met with scepticism in many quarters.
SDLP MLA Colin McGrath said the Lagan Valley representative failed to explain the basis for his comments, while Alliance's Stewart Dickson said the statement was "far from an apology".
In a statement issued yesterday through the DUP press office, Mr Poots denied linking the spread of Covid-19 to religion and instead accused his party's main executive partner Sinn Féin of attempting to "twist and distort" his comments.
"It is deeply regrettable that such a narrative has been created," he said.
"It is obvious such spread is related to behavioural issues nothing more nothing less."
He added that "I cherish my Catholic friends and neighbours" and would "never intentionally use words that would cause them offence".
"Covid-19 is spread by bad behaviour such as that exemplified at the Bobby Storey funeral," he said.
Mrs Foster said she welcomed her party colleague's clarification of his remarks, which had also been rejected by health minister Robin Swann and chief medical officer Michael McBride.
"I think it was right that he clarified what he had to say and I stand by that and I think it's right that he did do that," she said.
"The clarity is there in the statement – as far as I'm concerned that's an end of the matter."
The first minister said it was "important that we keep our heads" and it was time to "move forward and look at the bigger picture".
"Of course, the virus doesn't discriminate against people on the basis of their religion or their politics or where they live – it's right across Northern Ireland," she said.
"It's right across the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, it's right across the world. So we need to step in now and take the right decisions to deal with it."
Sinn Féin MLA John O’Dowd said the public had "made their own minds up" about Mr Poots' comments.
“It’s simply unacceptable to bring sectarianism into this public health emergency or into our politics at any time," he said.
“If any minister around the executive table is incapable of this, they simply should not be there."
Mr McGrath said the remarks had been "divisive and destructive" at a time when communities needed to be working together.
"Nowhere in his personal statement does he explain the basis for the comments or why the chief medical officer had to publicly rebut them," he said.
Mr Dickson said the agriculture minister needed to apologise for attributing behaviour to groups or sections of people, which he described as "prejudice, plain and simple".
"The latest statement from Edwin Poots, which is far from an apology and further compounds the situation, makes clear he still doesn’t seem to understand suggesting nationalists are more likely to breach coronavirus restrictions or misbehave because they are nationalists is inherently sectarian," he said.
