Covid-19: NI’s lockdown exit plan due to be publishedon March 2, 2021 at 6:47 am

The Stormont Executive will meet again on Tuesday with ministers hoping to sign off a plan for Northern Ireland’s recovery from lockdown.

Its expected publication on Monday was delayed, with civil servants asked to finalise details.

The blueprint will not include dates but will focus on nine areas across social and business settings.

Each section will have five steps out of lockdown, with progression led by health data.

Those factors include the infection rate of the virus, known as the R number, hospitalisations, vaccine rollout and progress in testing and tracing positive cases.

There will also be a “rolling review” every four weeks. Passing through each of the five phases will depend on a “range of evidence”.

The BBC understands that the document states that there is a concern of moving out of lockdown too quickly.

The plan will also state that with the emergence of new variants, it is important the approach is “cautious” and that keeping the R number under one and “as low as possible” is the best way to suppress the virus.

It may be a little late but ministers hope they have got this right.

After months of lockdown everyone wants to know when life can return to some kind of normality.

But don’t expect dates you can put in your diary – ministers say their plan will be data-led, not date-led.

It will have nine so-called pathways, including areas of life like business, sport and family.

But the move out of lockdown will be dependent on winning the fight against Covid-19 – so the R number, infection rates and the number of hospital admissions will be key to determining when life can start to feel like it once did.

The BBC understands the Covid-19 lockdown exit plan will include nine “pathways” to take account of various parts of Northern Ireland’s society and economy.

The nine pathways are:

Last week, First Minister Arlene Foster said the executive would also take into consideration “not only local data but emerging evidence from other jurisdictions too”.

Northern Ireland’s lockdown has been extended until 1 April, with a review due on 18 March.

In England and Scotland, lockdown exit plans that include target dates for easing restrictions have been published, but the respective governments have said lifting of the rules will only happen if certain conditions are met.

In the Republic of Ireland, lockdown restrictions have been extended until 5 April.

The executive’s pathway-to-recovery plan will include details on the reopening of schools in Northern Ireland.

Children in pre-schools and pupils in primaries one to three are already expected to be the first to return to class next Monday, 8 March.

They will be followed by pupils in years 12 to 14 on 22 March.

Pupils in other years do not yet know when they will return to school.

Last week, education and health officials agreed to carry out more work on further timelines for the return of all pupils to classrooms.

It is understood that those discussions have been continuing, but more details are not expected on that issue until later this week.

At Tuesday’s executive meeting, ministers will also hear again from DUP Agriculture Minister Gordon Lyons about his decision to halt work on post-Brexit border control posts, amid a row over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Alliance Party have questioned whether the minister’s actions were lawful.

Mr Lyons was to take advice from NI’s Attorney General Brenda King, before providing a further update on Tuesday to other Stormont ministers.

Speaking on Monday in the assembly, Mr Lyons defended his actions as “entirely sensible and appropriate”.

He also told MLAs that the row over his decision had not contributed “in any way” to the delay by the executive in publishing its lockdown recovery plan.

The border control posts are based at ports and are used to check food products entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain.