Northern Ireland Covid-19 restrictions to end

Remaining COVID-19 restrictions in Northern Ireland are set to come to an end today (15th February), including the wearing of face coverings and the need for businesses to collect client information for the purposes of testing and tracing.

The announcement was made yesterday by Robin Swann, Minister for Health. Restrictions were due to expire on 24th March, however Mr Swann will make an order to revoke the restrictions today.

For salons and those working in close contact services, the lifting of restrictions will see the end of mandatory wearing of face coverings, both by staff and clients, although it has been stated that the importance of wearing of face coverings in enclosed indoor settings will be strongly emphasised.

The requirement for risk assessing workplaces will also soon be removed.

Whilst there are no changes to the requirements for testing and tracing or isolating when testing positive, there will no longer be a need for salons to collect client information for testing and tracing purposes. 

In his announcement, Mr Swann said that he will look to extend the powers granted to the Department of Health by the Coronavirus Act 2020 by six months, enabling the ability the reintroduce restrictions in the future if there is an urgent need.