Northern Ireland is unlikely to alter its Covid 19 strategy despite the gear change by authorities south of the border yesterday.
Northern Ireland has one of the highest infection rates in Europe with a reproduction rate between 1.4 and 1.8. The number of cases in the last two weeks per 100,000 population is more than double that of the Republic of Ireland.
But it seems set to stick with the strategy announced by Northern Ireland's power-sharing Executive last week which allows the retail sector to remain open even though the opposite will happen south of the border from tomorrow night for a six-week period.
The two key experts in Northern Ireland are the Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride and the Chief Scientific Officer Professor