Fears extended lockdown will finish off many small retailers

Retail NI chief executive Glyn Roberts questioned whether the Executive was choosing to treat independent retailers differently from the rest of the UK by not allowing click-and-collect.

Economy Minister Diane Dodds on Thursday announced a £26.1m scheme to support larger hospitality and tourism businesses in meeting fixed costs and overheads.

Hotels chief Janice Gault said it was a "lifeline" for the sector, but added that businesses would nevertheless need continued support in coming months.

Mr Roberts said the "huge economic cost" of lockdown will have to be paid for, and called on the Executive to refocus its support to help businesses that need it most.

"Click-and-collect doesn't bring a lot of people onto the streets and I don't believe it would impact virus transmission. Other parts of the UK have click-and-collect, why is Northern Ireland being treated differently," he asked.

"This lockdown will be incredibly tough on the economy. Retailers are looking at supermarkets who can sell clothes, books, homeware. There's a basic unfairness in how the Executive put forward these restrictions.

"We want to see our economy reopened, we need to see the levels of vaccination increase."

Mr Lindsay said the extended lockdown will impact on policing "with no guarantee that it will end on March 5".

Many officers have contracted the virus, which puts added pressure on front line policing as well as having to enforce restrictions, he added.

"NHS staff, the elderly and vulnerable are clearly the priority, but in order to protect the front line and ensure that there is no future unintended risk to public safety, officers should be higher on the list and not have to risk their own health," he said.

"The PFNI and the Chief Constable are on the same page on this issue and we would urge the same level of political support as we see for our colleagues in England and Wales in this matter to be replicated."

At a media briefing in Dungannon, First Minister Arlene Foster said the decision to extend restrictions followed a "sobering assessment" of where we were with the pandemic.

The restrictions could be extended beyond March 5 and into the Easter holidays to push down rates of transmission.

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill admitted: "We don't know what will come after that.

"It will depend on what we all do now."

Mrs Foster said that 144,212 people here had received their first Covid-19 vaccine as of Wednesday.

People aged over 80 should be offered their first vaccine by the end of this week, with the reproduction number estimated to be between 0.65-0.85.

A vaccination schedule released by the Department of Health has said it expects to have vaccinated more than 999,000 people, reaching the 50-60 age bracket, by the spring.

It then plans to target everyone over 18 by the start of this summer - another 400,000 people.

Schools are closed to most pupils until after half-term in February.

Mrs O'Neill said the issue of schools reopening was discussed on Thursday, and DUP Education Minister Peter Weir would be consulting on the matter before bringing a paper to the Executive next week.

Hospitals struggling under the pressure are set to be tested even more by this weekend due to the lag between infection rates and the development of serious illness.

It's led to what was described by the Deputy First Minister as the "worst week in terms of the virus".

On Thursday it was announced that a further 21 local people who tested positive for Covid-19 had died.

Another 732 new cases of the virus had been detected, according to Department of Health figures.

There are 806 Covid-positive patients in hospitals, with 70 in intensive care.

Belfast Telegraph