THERE HAVE BEEN a further 1,299 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Northern Ireland in the past 24 hours.

In its latest update this afternoon, the Department of Health said a further two deaths have also been reported.

Fresh restrictions were announced earlier this week for the six counties in Northern Ireland amid an alarming surge in cases in recent weeks. 

Last night, First Minister Arlene Foster said she respectfully disagrees with a leading medical body’s assessment that new restrictions for Northern Ireland are “too little, too late”.

Arlene Foster was responding to a claim from the British Medical Association NI that only a full lockdown could have prevented the health service falling off a Covid cliff edge.

She said: “I say that because not only do I have to look at the health outcomes in these issues, but of course the economic outcomes, the societal outcomes, the education of our young people… and therefore I think that what we came forward with was an action plan which has been blended to try and deal with all of those issues, not for one minute taking away from the huge challenge that lies in front of us all in relation to Covid-19.”