Dear reader,

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Northern Ireland workforce was outlined in stark terms on Wednesday. 

Economy Minister Diane Dodds warned that more than 100,000 people could be unemployed by the end of 2020. The number claiming benefits here has already doubled since the start of the pandemic to 62,800 in July. And appearing at her department’s scrutiny committee on Wednesday, Mrs Dodds warned of worse to come with the UK’s jobs retention scheme due to end in October. 

Mrs Dodds spoke out after another day of uncomfortably high new coronavirus cases. The Department of Health revealed that another 72 cases of Covid-19 had been confirmed over the last 24 hours in the Province. That means there have been 384 new cases of the virus over the last week. 

However, crucially, hospital admissions remain low and no new deaths relating to Covid-19 have been reported. 

In other news, Peter Weir, the education minister, denied that he was following Scotland’s lead after confirming that secondary school pupils here will be asked to wear masks in school corridors. 

Another school has been affected by the virus. Cairnshill Primary School in Belfast said it was closing part of its school building and a number of staff and pupils were self-isolating after a member of the school’s community tested positive for Covid.

Take care.

Alistair Bushe,

Editor

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