Businesses praise ‘fantastic’ NI decision on Covid rules

The British Medical Association has backed the move, but urged people to remain cautious.

Victoria Square in the heart of Belfast (Liam McBurney/PA) (PA Archive)

Businesses have welcomed the move to end Covid-19 restrictions in Northern Ireland.

All remaining Covid-19 legal restrictions in Northern Ireland are to be lifted and replaced by guidance from February 15, following an announcement by Health Minister Robin Swann on Monday.

Retail NI chief Glyn Roberts said that it was “fantastic news”.

“We can now reopen our economy and accelerate the recovery of our high streets,” he said.

However, he called on politicians at Stormont to look again at the return of workers to offices and to create a working group on the issue.

Simon Hamilton, chief executive of Belfast Chamber (Brian Lawless/PA) (PA Archive)

“We are disappointed that the statement does not include a clear commitment to return to the workplace.

“Safely reopening offices and workplaces is not only vital to boost footfall for our high streets, but also for our economy and returning our society to normal.

“Northern Ireland needs to catch up with other parts of the UK with its return-to-workplace message,” he said.

Simon Hamilton, chief executive of Belfast Chamber, said the move was “good news” for Northern Ireland.

Mr Hamilton, a former DUP minister, had in recent days called the failure to lift restrictions a “complete disgrace”.

We will need to keep monitoring the case numbers and be willing to act if we see case levels and hospitalisations rising

Dr Tom Black, BMA

He tweeted: “Great to see the efforts of so many paying off as we continue on our journey back towards normality.

“Hopefully, we can now look forward to much better days ahead.”

The move has also been welcomed by the medical community.

Dr Tom Black, chairman of the British Medical Association’s Northern Ireland Council, said that people still need to be cautious.

“While we still have a very high level of Covid in the community particularly among children, thankfully that is not translating into large numbers of patients needing hospital care or treatment in an ICU.

“We will need to keep monitoring the case numbers and be willing to act if we see case levels and hospitalisations rising,” he said.

Dr Black said that as Northern Ireland emerges from the pandemic, the issue of lengthy waiting lists needed to be addressed.

“We cannot go back to how it was before. Everyone here deserves better, and needs a health service that can see and treat them in a reasonable timeframe.”