Coronavirus: Official papers advise two-week hospitality closure extension

Health officials have advised the executive that Covid-19 restrictions on hospitality should be extended for another two weeks, BBC News NI understands.

The measures, initially imposed on 16 October, are due to end next Friday.

The executive will meet later on Thursday to consider the proposals.

On Wednesday, hospitality leaders met the first and deputy first ministers and the health minister to discuss the situation.

A Department of Health proposal, seen by BBC News NI, indicates that a two-week extension of the restrictions on hospitality until the end of November could mean the possibility of avoiding further interventions before Christmas.

On Wednesday, the department reported 10 more Covid-related deaths across Northern Ireland in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 740.

There were 679 confirmed new cases of the virus, with 418 people in hospital.

Health officials have stressed that more action is needed now to prevent the health service being overwhelmed.

Elective surgery at Craigavon Hospital was cancelled this week and Northern Ireland's medical leaders have called for "breathing space" as health services come under increasing pressure due to Covid-19.

However it is understood that ministers will be asked to consider providing further targeted support for the sector if the restrictions remain in place.

BBC News NI also understands that close-contact services such as hair and beauty salons, which also closed for the four-week period, could soon be given the green light to reopen.

It is thought a decision on whether to extend any of the restrictions may not be announced by the executive until early next week.

On Tuesday, the chair of the British Medical Association (BMA) in NI, Dr Tom Black, said reopening hospitality would be an "act of vandalism" and called for Northern Ireland to implement a second lockdown.

England begins a second lockdown on Thursday, with the furlough scheme extended across the UK until December.

The Republic of Ireland is also under its highest tier of restrictions until the end of this month.

Some DUP politicians have said they do not support calls to maintain restrictions on hospitality in Northern Ireland after 13 November.

But, on Wednesday, Sinn Féin's junior minister Declan Kearney said NI was "not out of the woods yet" and that more interventions would be required.