Stay-at-home advice in legislation from Friday

Stay-at-home advice is to be put into legislation from Friday, with additional powers being given to the PSNI to enforce the measures.

Executive ministers have met to discuss stricter measures aimed at curbing the spread of coronavirus in Northern Ireland.

A statement said: "Regulations will be introduced so that no one can leave their home without a reasonable excuse and the PSNI will have the enforcement powers to order individuals home if engaging in prohibited activity, or if they are intending to do so.

"This will be similar to legislation in place during the first lockdown, with exemptions adapted to take account of those activities currently not permitted under the current restrictions.

"The full list of exemptions will be detailed in the regulations, which are currently being drafted."

Other measures agreed by ministers include restricting household mixing to just one household or social bubble.

The Executive also agreed that junior ministers will meet with the Faith Leaders’ Forum to discuss the option of all services moving online until 6 February.

Meanwhile schools are to continue remote learning until the mid-term break, however the issue of whether exams such as GCSEs will go ahead will has not been resolved.

It is understood the education minister will bring proposals to the Executive on Wednesday.

The Executive said: "These restrictions will be in place until 6 February and will be reviewed on 21 January."

A further 18 people have died with Covid-19 in Northern Ireland.

The latest figures from the Health Department showed 11 deaths in the past 24 hours, and seven outside of that timeframe.

A further 1,378 people have tested positive, and the seven-day total for positive cases has now risen to 12,487.

Northern Ireland is set to receive £127m from the Treasury for lockdown grants to support businesses forced to close.

The region is currently the second week of a six-week lockdown, in which services including non-essential retail remain shut.

A tweet from Finance Minister Conor Murphy said: "The £127m announced by the chancellor isn’t additional to what’s previously been announced.

"I’m encouraging Executive colleagues to get this support out urgently to where it’s needed."

Meanwhile the Health Department has described the latest phase of the cornavirus vaccine roll-out as a "game changer".

A total of 397 doses of the Oxford/Astrazeneca vaccine were administered at GP practices on Monday, the department said.

It added that more than 46,000 first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine been given to care home residents and staff, as well as Health and Social Care staff.

“Our vaccination programme has achieved a great deal in a very short space of time and we are very grateful to the many colleagues across our trusts and GP practices who are working tirelessly to make sure that we get the vaccine to patients and healthcare staff," it said.

“While it’s very reassuring to see the vaccine rolling out so efficiently, this does not mean that we can drop our guard.

"Please continue to follow the basic public health advice about social distancing, reducing contact, wearing face coverings and remembering hand hygiene because we need to all we can to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe."