| | Dear reader
Northern Ireland is now making its first big moves towards easing lockdown.
Not only did recycling centres open on Monday to queues, garden centres are now accepting customers.
Tomorrow we report on further details of the relaxation, including the fact that the outdoor sports golf and tennis can now be played, and churches will be opened for solitary prayer.
The most significant change of all, however, is that outdoor gatherings of four to six people from outside the same household will be allowed. But there will be no indoor gatherings of family members.
Also in Tuesday's paper, we report on how agricultural college accommodation in Enniskillen and Greenmount has been used by NHS workers.
And our business section tells of a Ballyclare homebuilder. Hagan Homes, who will apply a £5,000 discount to properties at its Thirty Three South development in Belfast for those working in the NHS during the coronavirus crisis.
I hope you all enjoy your day.
Stay safe Ben Lowry Deputy editor
Today's latest news:
Six more deaths of people with COVID-19 in NI - death toll now 482
According to the Department of Health figures all six people died within the previous 24 hours
Another 16 people tested positive for coronavirus in NI.
See the latest Department of Health report
The Stormont Executive should be more ‘optimistic and ambitious’ about trialling some form of return to school before the end of June, Jim Allister has said
The TUV leader’s call came after England’s former education secretary Lord Blunkett said that English teaching unions were working against the interests of children in opposing plans to reopen schools next month.
The British and Irish Group of Teacher Unions (BIGTU) has written to Stormont Education Minister Peter Weir urging “significant caution” before schools open, arguing that a premature reopening is too great a risk.
“We are convinced by the experience of other systems that a critical tool in preventing a surge of infection is an established capacity to ‘test trace and isolate; and we would argue that reopening schools before such a regime is in place would be catastrophic to the rate of infection,” they said.
But Lord Blunkett has now come out against similar opposition in England, saying he was “deeply critical” of their approach towards attempts to open schools in England on June 1.
Everyone in the United Kingdom over the age of five can now be tested for COVID-19, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock, has told the House of Commons
The expansion of testing to everyone over the age of five was agreed by authorities in Northern Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.
First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, confirmed Scotland had adopted the change during a press conference on Monday however Health Secretary, Matt Hancock, confirmed the policy applied to all four parts of the UK.
"Everyone aged five and over with symptoms is now eligible for a test," Mr. Hancock told the House of Commons on Monday.
A loss or changed sense of taste or smell are to be added to the NHS coronavirus symptoms list, weeks after experts first raised concerns that Covid-19 cases are being missed
Anyone suffering loss of taste or smell, or a noticeable change, should now self-isolate for seven days to reduce the risk of spreading the infection, England’s deputy chief medical officer, Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said.
If the symptomatic person lives with others, they should stay at home for seven days, while all other household members should stay home for 14 days even if they do not have symptoms.
The move means loss of smell or taste will now be listed alongside fever and cough as the main symptoms of Covid-19. | |
