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Northern Ireland\u2019s First Minister has warned people not to game the coronavirus regulations as she urged against non-essential cross-border trips.<\/p>\nNorthern Ireland\u2019s First Minister has warned people not to game the coronavirus regulations as she urged against non-essential cross-border trips.<\/p>\n
Arlene Foster told anyone contemplating a trip from the region to a holiday home or caravan in Co Donegal to stay at home.<\/p>\n
Her comments come after the island\u2019s two chief medical officers called on people to limit cross-border travel in response to soaring infection rates in Co Donegal and in the Derry City and Strabane Council area.<\/p>\n
Co Donegal has been placed under a three-week period of tightened restrictions by the Irish Government while across the border the area around Derry is recording the highest Covid-19 infection figures of anywhere in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
What we’re trying to do at the moment is to break the transmission of the virus and the way to do that is to follow the regulations and to follow the advice<\/p>\n
Mrs Foster, whose own Fermanagh constituency is adjacent to Donegal, said she had a \u201cvery good conversation\u201d about the situation with Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, because of the fact that Donegal runs right down the west of the province in relation to the border, there\u2019s a need to have practical co-operation and we discussed that last night,\u201d she said in Enniskillen.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd as you know, the two chief medical officers have released a statement as to how it should be managed, that people shouldn\u2019t be going between the two different jurisdictions, unless there\u2019s an exempted reason for doing so.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a message to anyone considering a cross-border leisure trip at the weekend, she added: \u201cI would advise them not to go because I don\u2019t think that that is essential travel, and it\u2019s certainly not an exempted part.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd people shouldn\u2019t try to game the regulations, people should use their common sense.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do at the moment is to break the transmission of the virus and the way to do that is to follow the regulations and to follow the advice and I think people should listen very carefully to the advice that\u2019s been given to citizens in Donegal but also to what we\u2019re saying here in Northern Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it shows that the virus is still with us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt shows that the virus spreads at an alarming rate. It shows how quickly people\u2019s fortunes can turn around. What we need now is a very strong response to that and I welcome the fact that, you know, measures have been put in place immediately.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve spoken with the chief medical officer who has spoken to his counterpart Ronan Glynn, they very much recognized that we need to move now in lockstep, we need to be very joined up on our messaging, we need to fight this virus as a whole island approach.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that the fact that we live on an island is an advantage to us and we need to work very hard to make sure that we are moving in tandem in fighting back against Covid-19.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/2.55641724.jpg\")
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