Northern Ireland will experience a very different Christmas this year as a consequence of Covid-19 restrictions, the chief medical officer has said.
Dr Michael McBride raised the prospect of even tighter measures being in place during the festive period than there are currently.
However, both he and chief scientific adviser Professor Ian Young predicted that the Executive would factor in the societal benefits of family get-togethers at Christmas when weighing up any future decisions on restrictions that might apply.
“I think it’s fair to say that Christmas will be very different from previous years, because we will still have many of the restrictions in place that we currently have, if not all, and indeed there may be further restrictions in place at that time,” said Dr McBride.
He added: “The Executive will wish to consider this very, very carefully and be mindful of the societal benefits of us coming together more over the Christmas period, insofar as that can be achieved safely.”
Prof Young said: “I think Christmas is a really good example of a time when the societal benefits of allowing more interaction will be much greater than other times of the year.
“While I think it’s likely that there may still need to be some restrictions in place at Christmas, I’m sure that we would wish to allow as much interaction as is possible safely at Christmas and allow as normal a Christmas that can be achieved in the context of a very serious global epidemic.”
