New lockdown: it’s back to square one
■ Police get powers to curb travel and churches may have to go online ■ GCSES and A-levels may be axed as transfer tests chaos continues ■ Expert warns it could take three months of restrictions to halt virus
THE PSNI has been given the power to return people to their homes as part of a raft of tough new Covid restrictions.
The advice to stay at home is to be strengthened with regulations which come into force at midnight tomorrow.
People will only be allowed to leave home for medical needs, to buy food or to exercise. Those who cannot work from home will also be allowed to leave.
The new rules will be in place until at least February 6.
Connor Bamford, a virologist from Queen’s University, said: “We’re in a worse place than we were in March and I think it’s going to take at least three months to get the virus back under control.”
It was also confirmed schools will use remote learning until mid-term.
There was no clarity last night over whether A-levels and GCSE exams will still go ahead this year.
However, it appears increasingly likely they will be called off, with an announcement expected tomorrow.
Earlier, there was uproar after the two private bodies hosting transfer tests said the January assessments would be called off — only for one to later state they still planned to go ahead with a test in February.
THE latest devastating Covid-19 lockdown is a direct result of the massive shortage of nurses in Northern Ireland, it has been claimed.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has said the health service is unable to cope with the surge in patient numbers due to underfunding and a “complete failure” to ensure there are enough nurses in Northern Ireland.
It comes as a virology expert warned Northern Ireland is “in the worst position it has ever been in” and is likely to endure at least three months of lockdown.
Connor Bamford, a virologist from Queen’s University, said: “We’re in a worse place than we were in March and I think it’s going to take at least three months to get the virus back under control.”
As children face months of remote learning and the economy is further decimated by the latest lockdown, Pat Cullen, director of the RCN in Northern Ireland, said: “There is no part of Northern Ireland that hasn’t been affected by the shortage of nurses.
“We are short of 3,000 nurses, think of the difference that would make to our health service at this time.”
In a stinging attack on health officials, Ms Cullen said nurses have been left “physically, emotionally and mentally exhausted” by the pandemic.
“The health service has now fallen over the precipice and nurses are once again clinging on by their fingertips trying to drag it back over the edge,” she said. “Everything that is happening now is a direct consequence of years of cutting every last penny out of nursing, of a total absence of any workforce planning.
“So, it is extremely difficult for nurses to be asked by the very people who are responsible for the cost-cutting to now go an extra 100 miles every day just to keep the health service running. The health service has never been in a more fragile state.
“Nurses aren’t working 12 hour shifts anymore, they’re working 14 or 15-hour shifts, they’re on the phone in tears and they’re asking if this would be happening if there were adequate nurses in the workforce. The simple answer is, no.”
Ms Cullen also warned that the situation is likely to decline further as the effects of winter pressures have not yet hit the health service.
She was speaking as latest figures revealed a further 1,378 new cases and 18 deaths reported in the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, six hospitals were operating beyond capacity with 195 people waiting admission to a ward.
A series of emergency measures have been put in place to try and stem the soaring number of Covid-19 cases in Northern Ireland, including a decision by health bosses to delay the second dose of the Pfizer/biontech vaccine for healthcare workers in order to ensure more people can receive a first dose.
While Ms Cullen said while she understands the rationale for the decision, it has further eroded the relationship between nurses and health officials.
She said: “Nurses have described it to me as having the rug pulled out from under them. Furthermore, the fact that staff in care homes will get their second dose after three weeks, while staff who work in hospitals won’t, it’s unfathomable.”
The Department of Health has said that everyone booked for a second dose of the Pfizer/ Biontech vaccine will receive the vaccine within 12-weeks — a timescale that has been deemed acceptable by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
Meanwhile, a department spokeswoman said addressing nursing shortages has been a key priority in recent years, with the registered nursing workforce growing by 884 between September 2017 and September 2020.