UK

First Minister Arlene Foster: We are seeing the curve of coronavirus flatten

First Minister Arlene Foster during a Coronavirus media briefing at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Belfast. Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye
First Minister Arlene Foster during a Coronavirus media briefing at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Belfast. Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye First Minister Arlene Foster during a Coronavirus media briefing at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Belfast. Kelvin Boyes/Press Eye

First Minister Arlene Foster has said emerging from lockdown will be a “step-by-step approach”.

Yesterday it was announced that lockdown restrictions will remain in place in Northern Ireland for at least another three weeks, as the Covid-19 death toll rose to 140.

“The Northern Ireland public have been complying and, as a result of that, we are seeing the curve of coronavirus flatten,” Mrs Foster told the BBC.

A further 121 new cases of infection were confirmed yesterday, bringing the total to 2,088 across the north. Six further hospital deaths were also revealed.

“The lockdown will continue for another three weeks, but I think what people want to see us doing now is to plan for recovery and that of course is the next stage in the process," she said. 

“I think we will want to take, just as we did when we went into this procedure, we took the best advice from the central advisory group in London, we of course engage with our own chief medical officer, and we will want to take their advice again as to the impact of the step-by-step process.

“And I think it will be a step-by-step process – it’ll not just be a total reopening again because that would be wrong, because what we want to do is to ensure that we minimise and continue to mitigate the coronavirus.

“We have been advised by our chief medical officer that there is the very strong probability of a second surge and therefore we want to make sure we contain that in the way we have been able to contain what is with us at present.”

Separately, a professor whose modelling has informed the UK’s coronavirus strategy said the UK will need to keep up some form of social distancing until a vaccine has been developed.

Discussing whether lockdown measures could be eased after another three weeks, Professor Neil Ferguson told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think that will very much depend on quite how quickly case numbers go down, and that does require us to get on top of things like transmission rates in hospitals and care homes.

“I think the other thing I would say is that it really requires a single-minded emphasis in Government and the health system on scaling up testing and putting in place the ability to track down cases in the community and contact-trace.

“Because without that, our estimates show we have relatively little leeway; if we relax measures too much then we’ll see a resurgence of transmission.

“What we really need is the ability to put something in their place. If we want to open schools, let people get back to work, then we need to keep transmission down in another manner.

“And I should say, it’s not going to be going back to normal. We will have to maintain some form of social distancing, a significant level of social distancing, probably indefinitely until we have a vaccine available.”

Asked whether the British government is moving towards having an exit strategy in place, Prof Ferguson said: “I’m not completely sure. I think there’s a lot of discussion. I would like to see action accelerated.

“We need to put in place an infrastructure, a command and control structure, a novel organisation for this.

“I’m reminded by the fact we had a Department for Brexit for Government – that was a major national emergency, as it were – and we’re faced with something which is, at the moment, even larger than Brexit and yet I don’t see quite the same evidence for that level of organisation.”

Prof Ferguson added: “There needs to be more co-ordination I think, yes. That may be going on, I don’t have unique insight, but I think it could be enhanced.”

Asked whether lockdown measures could be continued again in three weeks’ time, he said: “I think we will take each step as it comes, I don’t have a crystal ball to say how rapidly cases will decline.

“All I would say is we have limited leeway to release current measures unless we have something new to put in their place.”