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Northern Ireland\u2019s Health Minister and chief medical officer have rejected the suggestion the spread of Covid-19 has any link to political affiliation.<\/p>\nNorthern Ireland\u2019s Health Minister and chief medical officer have rejected the suggestion the spread of Covid-19 has any link to political affiliation.<\/p>\n
Robin Swann and Dr Michael McBride\u2019s comments came amid the continuing fall-out from Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots\u2019 claim that the virus was more rife in nationalist areas than unionist areas by a factor of six to one.<\/p>\n
Mr Poots suggested coronavirus had increased among nationalists at a higher rate because behaviors had been influenced by \u201cpoor political leadership\u201d shown by Sinn F\u00e9in leaders when they attended June\u2019s funeral of IRA veteran Bobby Storey in Belfast in apparent contravention of Stormont\u2019s rules on mass gatherings.<\/p>\n
The latest interventions in the furor came as Stormont\u2019s chief scientific adviser Prof Ian Young highlighted a \u201cpositive sign\u201d that the increase in Covid-19 infections in the region was starting to slow.<\/p>\n
Prof Young also said more of the scientific evidence that informed the executive\u2019s decision making was to be made available to the public in an online resource.<\/p>\n
In another development on Tuesday, the BBC reported that more than 1,700 healthcare staff were isolating across three of Northern Ireland\u2019s six health trusts.<\/p>\n
During Assembly question time, Mr Swann told MLAs there was no evidential basis for Mr Poots\u2019 contention.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething we don\u2019t do is ask anybody who\u2019s contracted Covid-19 their political or religious affiliation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mr Swann added: \u201cOur nursing staff, our doctors, our hospital porters don\u2019t care what religion or what political affiliation their patients have, nor does Covid.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I think that\u2019s the critical point, we need to get through to anyone listening that this virus is no respecter of political persuasion, religious belief or economic or social background as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an equal opportunities killer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr McBride made similar points during a separate media briefing on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly at no stage would we have either publicly or privately suggested that there\u2019s a link between the transmission rates of Covid-19 and people\u2019s political affiliation or religion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no such evidence, we don\u2019t have that evidence and our approach throughout all this has been guided by the evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI know of no such evidence and I\u2019m not sure of the basis of those comments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr McBride also moved to dispel speculation that events linked to the GAA had a disproportionate impact on soaring infection numbers in recent weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no one sporting event that has any less association with people coming together either to celebrate the outcome of a particular event or to congregate to watch a particular event,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Addressing the same briefing, Prof Young said a number of identifiable clusters had been linked to sporting clubs and events, but he stressed those cases involved all the main sporting codes in the region.<\/p>\n
Mr Poots has insisted that his comments were not sectarian, telling Tuesday\u2019s Irish News that could not be the case because most Sinn Fein leaders \u201cdon\u2019t attend the Catholic church on a regular basis\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said his remarks were instead a political statement about \u201cpoor political leadership\u201d.<\/p>\n
In the Assembly on Tuesday, Mr Poots\u2019 party and constituency colleague Paul Givan defended his stance, insisting that he had not introduced the issue of religion into the debate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose that make the accusations about other colleagues are blinded by their own catastrophic failures when it comes to how this issue has been managed,\u201d said the Lagan Valley MLA.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe funeral issue [has been] well documented, [they have] an inability to recognize that in areas the rate has been higher.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd that\u2019s what my colleague [Mr Poots] outlined, the rate has been higher in those areas where the party opposite [Sinn F\u00e9in] has greater political support than other areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo mention [made by Mr Poots] anywhere of religion.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were three further Covid-19 linked deaths announced by the Department of Health on Tuesday and 913 new cases of the virus.<\/p>\n
The toll recorded by the department now stands at 624.<\/p>\n
There have been 28,953 confirmed cases of the virus since the outbreak began, 6,850 in the seven days since Tuesday.<\/p>\n
There are currently 286 patients with Covid-19 being treated in hospital, with 29 in intensive care.<\/p>\n
Prof Young said there was evidence that limits on household restrictions introduced last month had worked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we are beginning to see is a slowing of the rate of increase, which is a positive sign, and most likely reflects the household restrictions, which were put in place some time ago, and possibly the very beginning of the impact of more recent restrictions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He said there was also evidence of a \u201cfairly steady decline\u201d of infection rates in the Derry City and Strabane Council area, Northern Ireland\u2019s current Covid hotspot.<\/p>\n
Prof Young attributed that to the localised restrictions that had been introduced in the area a number of weeks ago.<\/p>\n