Northern Ireland's Health Minister has condemned an attack on a community pharmacist who was attacked when they asked a customer to wear a face mask.
Robin Swann said the attack was "completely unacceptable" and said pharmacy staff deserved "our utmost respect".
In a statement released on Friday, Minister Swann said: "I am appalled to hear that a community pharmacist has been physically assaulted for asking a customer to wear a mask.
"Those who cannot wear a mask for a vaild reason will always be respected by health and social care collaegues so it is completely unacceptable that anyone should face abuse for requesting that someone wears a mask."
"Pharmacists work at the very hear of our communities providing support and expertise daily," he added.
"They deserve our utmost respect and anything less will not be tolerated."
Meanwhile, the Department of Health reported a further nine coronavirus related deaths on Friday.
According to the latest update on February 12, all of the fatalities occurred within the current reporting period.
The death toll in Northern Ireland now stands at 1,975, according to the DoH.
Friday's dashboard update also reports a further 407 positive cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of positive cases to 108,434 since the start of the pandemic.
