Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
WORST IS YET TO COME
» Swann says Covid-19 here for ‘very long time’ » Braced for first surge after three more deaths
HEALTH Minister Robin Swann warned yesterday the worst is yet to come as Northern Ireland braces itself for its first Covid-19 surge.
He said the number of ventilators available to frontline medics has increased to 197 – up from 165 – and that more are on their way. Mr Swann, inset, was speaking as three more coronavirus-related deaths were confirmed, bringing the total number of fatalities to 73. He added restrictions on movement may need to be tightened in the coming weeks and people needed to realise Covid-19 will be in Northern Ireland for a “very long time”. The minister said: “I don’t want to put a message out today that we are thinking about relaxing some of the measures
FROM PAGE ONE when we are actually seeing a situation where we may actually have to make them stronger.
“This isn’t going to go away at the end of the restrictions. So when we look at the restrictions in two or three weeks’ time it may be we are extending that period, we may be actually putting in more restrictions.
“So to send out the message here today that in three weeks’ time this will all be fine, Covid-19 has left Northern Ireland – that message is wrong.”
Mr Swann added there are currently 55 people in intensive care beds, with 96 Covid-19 related hospital admissions on Monday alone.
He said: “We have additional ventilators on order to meet our estimated clinical care need of 400 ventilated clinical care beds.
“And there are another 500 respiratory devices on order that can support patients before or after critical care.”
Also speaking at the daily press conference, chief medical officer Dr
Michael Mcbride said he is “confident” the region will have the ICU and ventilator capacity needed as cases increase.
He added evidence on the infection rate, hospital admissions and numbers in intensive care were giving grounds for optimism.
The senior medic said data suggested the reproduction rate of the disease had fallen from around 2.5/2.8 per person infected to below one. He added: “If that’s the case, that’s good news.”
The two men said social distancing appears to be having a positive affect, but Mr Swann warned against complacency saying that with Easter coming there will be more police on the roads ensuring people are only making essential journeys.
Meanwhile, the minister revealed cases of the virus had been reported in 20 care homes in Northern Ireland.
He said those incidents were being managed by the Public Health Agency and the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority.