Coronavirus: Pubs and restaurants to close from Friday evening
- Published
Pubs, restaurants and cafes will close their doors to sit-in customers from 18:00 BST on Friday as NI is put under stricter Covid-19 restrictions.
Hair and beauty salons will also have to shut and gyms face additional measures for the next four weeks too.
Hotels must close to new guests to all but a few exceptions.
On Thursday the Finance Minister Conor Murphy announced hotels will be able to apply to a scheme designed to help businesses forced to shut.
The additional financial support comes after new restrictions were announced in a bid to stem cases of Covid-19.
Mr Murphy said the package was intended to get support to businesses "quickly".
He told BBC NI's The View he had asked other departments to also bring forward support schemes.
Mr Murphy said the scheme, which was introduced for Derry City and Strabane district, was not "intended to fix the broader economic damage that has been done by Covid-19", but was to assist businesses in paying bills.
"We realise these businesses will not be able to take people in off the street and that is how hospitality works," he said.
"We are trying to manage a pandemic and get the limited resources to those who need it," he added.
The scheme will see payments available to businesses every fortnight that they are closed, on a tiered level.
It is set to cost £35m and will open for applications from Monday.
It will see small businesses receive £1,600 every fortnight that they are in lockdown, medium businesses £2,400 and large firms getting £3,200.
The thresholds are:
- Small businesses with a net annual value (NAV) of £15,000
- Medium businesses with a NAV of £15,00 to £51,000
- Large businesses with NAV of £51,000 or more
Wednesday saw new measures announced for all of Northern Ireland, with schools closing for two weeks from Monday:
- Closure of the hospitality sector, apart from deliveries and takeaways
- Other fast-food and takeaway premises to close at 23:00
- Off-licences and supermarkets not to sell alcohol after 20:00
- No indoor sport or organised contact sport involving mixing of households, other than at elite level
- No mass events involving more than 15 people (except for allowed outdoor sporting events where the relevant number for that will continue to apply);
- Close-contact services such as hairdressers and beauticians to close - apart from those relating to the continuation of essential health interventions and therapeutics.
- Mobile hairdressers and make-up artists - also classed as close contact services - prohibited from working in homes
- Gyms to remain open for individual training but no classes permitted
- Places of worship to remain open but face coverings mandatory when entering and exiting
- Hotels with exemptions for them to offer rooms to essential workers such as workers who need hotels for work-related purposes and "staff on the front line battling Covid"
On Thursday, the Department of Health recorded a further 763 cases and four more deaths with Covid-19.
There have now been 23,878 cases since the pandemic began - a quarter of which have been reported in the past week.
In the Republic of Ireland, a further 1,205 new coronavirus cases were confirmed on Thursday, as well as three additional deaths.
The Irish government has announced a near-total ban on household visits, and three of the border counties have been moved to the second highest level of restrictions.
- Schools: How are pupils being kept safe?
- Weddings: How many people can attend?
- Going out: When and how are pubs allowed to open?
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