LISTEN: Health minister says more 'difficult decisions’ needed to fight Covid-19

By Rebecca Black, PA

Northern Ireland’s health minister has warned that “further difficult decisions are necessary” in the fight against coronavirus.

Robin Swann made the comments to the Stormont Health Committee just hours before he will bring proposals around further restrictions to the Executive to consider on Thursday afternoon.

He said while he will not betray the confidence of Executive discussions, he expects announcements will be made later.

The minister referred to an “alarming increase” in the number of positive Covid-19 cases across Northern Ireland, with an additional 424 confirmed on Wednesday, the highest daily total since the current testing regime started.

“We are facing a very serious situation,” he said, repeating his assessment that Northern Ireland stands at a crossroads.

“If the current trends do not change, if attitudes to this virus do not toughen, in six weeks’ time our hospital inpatient numbers will exceed those witnessed during the first wave – and that isn’t even the worst-case scenario.”

Mr Swann said since restrictions were introduced in the Ballymena and BT43 area – which were later extended across the region as a whole – cases have dropped by around 50%, while the Belfast rate has also slowed.

He said there is currently sustained transmission of Covid-19 in the community in the Derry and Strabane council area, adding “to be frank” they had not expected those dramatic rises.

“We have further recommendations going to the Executive this afternoon for specifics in that area… I expect there will be further announcements later on today on the back of our recommendations,” he said.

Sinn Fein MLA Pat Sheehan put to the health minister that there is a Covid service, but not a health service unless you have an immediate life-threatening condition.

“When can we expect normal service to be resumed?” he asked.

Mr Swann responded, saying it is not possible to give a date until Covid-19 has gone away.

But he said they are trying to open up as many services as possible.

Chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride warned that the health service is not likely to be “business as usual for many, many months… until such times as we have better control on the virus”.

He also gave a stark description of the experience of a seriously ill Covid-19 patient, saying it is “difficult for people to imagine what it’s like to be fighting for your breath”.

“You’ve got a mask tightly fitted over your face which many people find quite claustrophobic,” he said.

“It’s a bit like facing into a wind tunnel, you’ve got this air coming at high pressure forcing air into your airways, it’s a very unpleasant experience.

“What you know as a patient sitting there is it’s the difference between you keeping well and staying well, and perhaps ending up needing to be transferred into intensive care.

“Then comes the conversation that has to be had with those individuals, that once they are ventilated they might never wake up again, it may not ever be possible to take them off the ventilator.

“It’s a very, very scary experience, and when individuals are paralysed and ventilated, they don’t know whether they are going to wake up again, and their relatives don’t know if they are going to wake up again, and sadly for too many, they don’t.”

SDLP MLA Colin McGrath joined the meeting by video call after going into self-isolation following a notification via the Stop Covid NI app that he had been in contact with a positive case of Covid-19.

Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) said Covid-19 related deaths have accounted for 10.9% of deaths in the region over six months.

The data relates to the 875 Covid-19 related deaths in the region in the last six months.

The figures show that males had a “significantly higher” rate of death linked to Covid-19 – 69.9 deaths per 100,000 of the male population, compared with 45.8 deaths per 100,000 females.

Covid-19 rates were also found to be highest in the 20% most deprived areas, at 66 deaths per 100,000 population compared with 55.2 per 100,000 persons for Northern Ireland as a whole.

Meanwhile, 102 of the 875 (11.7%) Covid-19 related deaths were persons of working age (aged 20-69), of which the largest group (40 persons; 39.2%) were in the skilled trades, elementary occupations or process, plant and machine operative occupational groups.