| Dear reader
The impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and the knock-on impact of the lockdown on businesses in Northern Ireland, was exposed in stark terms on Wednesday.
Speaking to Stormont’s Economy Committee, Simon Hamilton, the chief executive of the Belfast Chamber, revealed that just six per cent of businesses in Belfast have been able to keep their doors open during the lockdown period.
He also revealed that only a third of the city’s firms are eligible for either the Executive’s £10,000 or £25,000 grant schemes and 83% are furloughing workers.
Latest figures released by the Department of Health have shown that another 14 people with Covid-19 have lost their lives in Northern Ireland.
The total number of Covid-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland is now 418.
Stay safe,
Alistair Bushe
Editor
Here are today’s headlines:
Another 14 people have died in Northern Ireland after testing positive for coronavirus.
The Department of Health this afternoon reveal that 418 people have died in NI after testing positive for COVID-19. They say that three people died ‘within the current reporting period’ while another 11 deaths happened but not within the current reporting period.
In an effort to halt the spread of the coronavirus and to follow social distancing guidance, councils across Northern Ireland made sensible changes to their bin collections and temporarily closed waste recycling centres.
We welcomed Environment Minister Edwin Poots’ recent guidance on how household waste recycling centres (HWRCs) may safely and gradually re-open. Each of our 11 councils are now considering the best course of action and it will be up to individual councils to manage the opening of their household recycling centres.The majority of HWRCs were closed to comply with government advice to restrict unnecessary travel but, as the situation evolved and a way to open centres on a restricted basis (whilst still complying with government advice and taking a safety first approach) was identified, councils were able to make informed decisions on plans to re-open
Councils across Northern Ireland are likely to collapse due to the financial pressures of the coronavirus pandemic, a local government body has warned.
The chief executive of the Northern Ireland Local Government Association, Derek McCallan, said that without intervention from central government “institutional collapse” for the 11 local councils here is “a probability”.
Nearly a quarter of the total £900 million local government budget is likely to be wiped out by additional costs and the economic downturn associated with the pandemic, Mr McCallan told the News Letter.
The council budgets have been impacted by the loss of income from leisure centres and other venues, increased waste removal costs and what Mr McCallan said is likely to be a drastic cut in rates income due to the wider economic downturn associated with the coronavirus lockdown.
“It’s facing the entire local government sector in Northern Ireland,” Mr McCallan told the News Letter
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