UK coronavirus measures will be used in North if necessary – health board

Emergency measures outlined by the UK government on Tuesday to tackle the spread of coronavirus will be implemented in Northern Ireland if necessary, the North's Health and Social Board has confirmed.

These could include school closures and the cancellation of large-scale gatherings such as sporting events.

But the chief medical officer, Dr Michael McBride, told The Irish Times that plans would be “flexible” to allow health services to respond quickly to any eventuality. Any such decisions would be taken on a case-by-case basis and according to the scientific evidence, he said.

"It may well be, for instance, there's a difference between the timing of the introduction of those methods in different parts of the United Kingdom at different times depending on what the picture is like because . . . the situation in Northern Ireland may be somewhat behind the situation in other parts of the UK," he said.

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A total of 151 tests for coronavirus have now been carried out in Northern Ireland. There has been one positive result, in a woman who had recently returned from northern Italy.

Testing facilities

Dr McBride and other health officials outlined details of Northern Ireland's contingency planning at a briefing in Belfast on Tuesday.

He said Northern Ireland was still at the “containment” phase and efforts were being made to delay or prevent widespread “community transmission” between individuals.

It is estimated that about 99 per cent of people who are affected will make a full recovery, he said, with 95 per cent suffering mild to moderate symptoms which will not require hospital treatment.

Testing facilities have been put in place in each of the North’s health trust areas, which include specialist pods, separate and designated areas in existing buildings, and drive-through testing.

Areas have also been identified in hospitals where a number of coronavirus patients can be kept in isolation.

Dr Miriam McCarthy, director of commissioning at the Health and Social Care Board, said patients with the virus would be treated in an isolation facility in a single room with “negative pressure” which would prevent air from the room mixing with other parts of the hospital and potentially infecting other patients.

“That will continue to be the case when we are managing small numbers,” she said.

One hundred critical care beds are available in Northern Ireland, and more beds could be added and wards set aside if necessary.

“We are working to ensure that we protect the critical care capacity for the sickest people,” said Dr McCarthy. “We may need every bit of that capacity to deal with people infected by the virus.”

Conference calls

Routine hospital appointments and surgeries could also be postponed, and plans are also being put in place to cope with reduced levels of healthcare staff as a result of coronavirus.

Dr McBride said he believed it would be “disproportionate” to cancel mass gatherings, including sporting events, and to close schools.

“There’s absolutely no indication to take any of those steps at this point in time,” he said.

“The only circumstances at this moment in time where a school should be closed is on the advice of public health agency colleagues and only in a circumstance where there’s a confirmed case in a school.”

He said health authorities in Northern Ireland were working "hand in hand" with colleagues in the Republic of Ireland and the rest of the UK, and he was in "regular contact" with his counterpart in the Republic, Dr Tony Holohan.

“We’ve had regular conference calls, we’re sharing information the HSE, public health agency colleagues here are working day and daily sharing information, that’s how it should be.

“That’s what the public expect,” he said. “When it comes to challenges such as these, we need to respond as one community.”