People both sides of the Border have been warned against holding St Patrick’s Day celebrations as 778 new cases of Covid-19 and 55 additional deaths were reported on the island of Ireland today.
Northern Ireland’s chief medical officer, Dr Michael McBride has told those planning to hold parties to “wise up” and think about families grieving the loss of a loved one to the virus.
This follows warnings in the Republic from the Department of the Taoiseach saying people could be fined or prosecuted for organizing or attending a St Patrick’s Day party.
The warnings in the North come after crowds of Rangers fans gathered over the weekend to celebrate the Glasgow club’s Scottish Premiership victory, which has been condemned by health minister Robin Swann.
Dr McBride said “some people really need to wise up and grow up”.
“People are still dealing with consequences of Covid-19, there are eight families grieving [in the North] today, there are many, many more people in hospital … so please everyone lets stick with this,” he said.
“We all know what we should be doing, we know what we shouldn’t be doing so please continue to do the right thing.”
He urged people to celebrate St Patrick’s Day “respectfully with your own household”, and “likewise for Easter”.