Good evening,

Northern Ireland tends to take Easter Monday and Tuesday as holiday, as opposed to Good Friday and Easter Monday.

This year, for all the abnormality of the times, it still had the traditional holiday feel of good weather and a sleepy pace. 

Our front page on Wednesday was of a food bank being stocked in central Belfast in bright sunshine.

But the pleasant conditions belie some of the alarming trends that we report such as our lead story on the jump in care home deaths, and ongoing fears of care home staff. One home owner told us his staff still had insufficient protective gear.

We reported that the hospitality industry fears that 25% of NI restaurants might never return.

But the public is determined to keep spirits up. Tonight musical instruments that are popular in the Orange tradition such as a Lambeg drum will join the NHS applause.

Meanwhile, Stormont is extending lockdown for three more weeks but there were glimmers of hope as Robin Swann says the pandemic's early spread is might not be tuning out as bad as thought.

Ben Lowry, Deputy Editor

Here are today's headlines:

• The lockdown measures currently in place in Northern Ireland have been extended for an additional three weeks, First Minister Arlene Foster confirmed today. Mrs. Foster confirmed the Northern Ireland Executive met on Wednesday and explained they had agreed the measures must remain in place for three more weeks at the very least. The First Minister described the decision to extend the lockdown as "right and proper" while deputy First Minister, Michelle O'Neill insisted now was the time to "dig in".
• The announcement came on a day when the number of people in Northern Ireland to die after testing positive for COVID-19 increased by six to 140. Today also saw the number of people to test positive for COVID-19 in Northern Ireland move past the 2,000 milestone to 2,088.
• Business leaders in Northern Ireland have published a 10-point plan to mitigate the impact of the “fastest and deepest” economic decline ever experienced due to the coronavirus shutdown. The strategy was published on Wednesday after Ulster Bank chief economist Richard Ramsey said the bank’s monthly business survey for March recorded the “steepest ever fall in activity”.
• The UK death toll has risen by 761 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of COVID-19 related deaths to 12,868. There have now been 98,476 confirmed cases of the disease in the UK.