Covid-19 rules are lifted in Northern Ireland

Business owners were hopeful of a return to normality on the day when all remaining Covid-19 legal restrictions were lifted in Northern Ireland.

From 5pm yesterday, the requirement for people to wear face coverings in settings such as shops and on public transport was removed while Covid certificates are no longer needed to gain entry to nightclubs and large indoor unseated events.

Businesses are also no longer required to undertake coronaviruslinked risk assessments or collect track and trace information from customers.

While the curbs are being removed from law, they are remaining as guidance.

Self-isolation guidance upon infection is not changing and neither is the Stormont executive’s “work from home where possible” message.

Aaron Chism, the co-owner of Belfast city centre clothes shop Fuzz Vintage, said his hope was for brighter days ahead.

He started the business in the middle of the pandemic in October 2020.

“Hopefully there’s going to be more people knocking about Belfast and they’ll feel more comfortable to go into shops and we’ll get more customers,” he said.

Stormont Finance Minister Conor Murphy said he wanted to get to a position where there was no need for any Covid-19 guidance.

“We look forward to a time that we can remove all restrictions, and all guidance becomes a thing of the past,” he said yesterday.

“But the pandemic is still going on, there are still people dying, there’s still people contracting the virus. And so there has to be a degree of caution in relation to that.”