Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI political reporter

Image source, Getty Images

During the Stormont coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, the health minister confirmed that hospital visits in Northern Ireland are to be restricted to one family member for one patient, once a week.

It is an extension of the localised restrictions brought in earlier this month that would see visits reduced in certain postcode areas.

Robin Swann said there will be new guidance issued around exemptions, in particular circumstances.

He added that he is keen to maintain visits to care homes, potentially in other forms.

Image source, Pacemaker

The health minister has given an update on Northern Ireland's Nightingale hospitals.

Robin Swann says the facility in the tower block at the City Hospital in Belfast is "there and is able to be turned on", having been put in place earlier in the pandemic.

It is a facility with additional ICU beds.

He adds that work is "ongoing" in relation to a facility at Whiteabbey, which would be used as a "step down" facility for those recovering from Covid-19 and having to come out of intensive care.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride says he "doesn't like the concept of waves" as they create "the concept that the virus has a plan".

He is responding to a suggestion by Dr Tom Black from the British Medical Association that Northern Ireland is entering the second phase of the coronavirus pandemic.

"It doesn't work like that, it really depends what we do," says Dr McBride.

"If we don't use the next two to three weeks to head the advice, that will transmit into more admissions into hospital. There is an inevitability that will happen."

Dr McBride says action in the next few weeks could help stall the increase in the number of cases.

People in Northern Ireland need to commit to following the regulations "as if your life depended on it", Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride says.

"Your life and potentially the lives of others close to you does depend on it.

"We don't get a second chance."

Dr McBride believes Northern Ireland is at a "fork in the road" and there is a "narrow window of opportunity" in the next two weeks to determine the threat from the virus in the months ahead.

Dr McBride says: "While the executive can regulate and others can enforce and we can provide advice, as the minister reminds us, it's really up to all of us.

"You will choose to follow or not, to be responsible or not and by your decisions and actions not only take risk upon yourself, but also choose to expose others to risk."

He adds: "There is light at the end of this tunnel, I ask for six months more commitment from you."

Minister Swann confirms additional measures could be taken in areas with notably high rates of Covid-19.

"We've always been clear if we do have to introduce further restrictions, we will do it," he says.

Mr Swann says he does not want to use the language of "lockdown", but that he has always been clear additional measures could be taken in particularly geographical areas.

He adds that local lockdown measures around Ballymena were effective when earlier introduced earlier.

There could be 500 cases of Covid-19 per day in Northern Ireland within four weeks if current trends continue, NI's chief medical officer has warned.

Dr Michael McBride says people should "pause and think" about the rise in numbers.

He added: "It doesn't have to be like that, but it is dependent on what we all do now."

Dr McBride says there are 150 new cases of the virus every day, with "numbers doubling every 10 days".

The health minister appeals to the public to limit their social contacts.

"Continue to work from home if you can, ask how important a planned activity is for you," he says.

"Believe me when I say I do not want another lockdown."

He encourages the public to follow the measures currently in place to avoid this scenario.

Image source, PA Media

Robin Swann tells the conference that hospital visits are to be restricted to one family member, one patient, once a week.

"Covid-19 spreads through human contact, we have to keep minimising and managing our contacts," he says.

Mr Swann says there will be new guidance issued.

He emphasised he is keen to maintain visits to care homes, potentially in other forms.

Northern Ireland's R number is between 1.2 and 1.8, the health minister has said.

The reproduction number (R) is the average number of secondary infections produced by a single infected person.

The virus is gaining momentum, he told the briefing.

Robin Swann said what had happened at Daisy Hill Hospital and Craigavon hospitals showed the cruelty of the virus.

Eleven patients died following outbreaks of coronavirus at the two hospitals.

He said lessons must be learned and an independent doctor had been appointed to chair a an independent review.

Health Minister Robin Swann opens his remarks by thanking the public for their "tough sacrifices" already made, and says he is "now asking for more".

"I challenge anyone who still doubts the seriousness of this virus to sit across the table from a family [who have lost a loved one to Covid-19] for one minute and see how forsaken they are," he says.

Dr Johnston has cautioned against complacency in the next stage of the pandemic.

"The public along with our politicians and other influential figures should not underestimate this next stage of the Covid-19 pandemic," he says.

He also encourages the public not to become fatigued with public health measures, especially moving into the winter.

"This is the time of the year when our health service has historically been its most fragile," he adds.

Dr Paul Johnston added: "I would first like to start by providing some reassurances that the majority of people are either asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic," he says.

"However, the higher transmission rate can, as it did in the first wave, mean admission to hospital or onward admission to hospital to intensive care."

Dr Johnston tells the conference that there are an increasing number of intensive care admissions at his hospital.

The number of severely ill Covid-19 patients is on the rise again, Dr Paul Johnston, clinical lead for intensive care at Antrim Area Hospital, tells Stormont's daily briefing.

He said his hospital is seeing an increasing number of patients requiring intensive care support.

Dr Johnston said he believed hospital admissions will increase.

Image source, Pacemaker

About 600 drink-only bars in Northern Ireland can reopen their doors for the first time since March.

It had previously been the case that pubs could only sell alcohol if they also served food or if customers were outside.

The reopening date for pubs had been pushed back twice due to a rising number of coronavirus cases.

However, the executive could impose an earlier closing time.

Read more here.

BBC News NI will have live coverage of Health Minister Robin Swann's latest coronavirus briefing from about 16:30 BST.

The briefing comes as the latest Department of Health statistics show there have been no further coronavirus-related deaths, the death toll in Northern Ireland remains 577.

There have been 220 more positive cases of the virus.