Omicron: Don't panic over new variant, first minister urges

The Stormont executive should not be taking decisions in "panic mode" in response to the new Omicron Covid-19 variant, the first minister has said.

On Tuesday, three cases of the variant were confirmed in Northern Ireland.

Paul Givan said the development was not a surprise and he urged people to follow public health advice and not be complacent.

But he repeated that he did not believe further restrictions would be required before Christmas.

His comments on Wednesday came before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced new rules for England in a bid to curb the spread of the virus in England.

The new measures for England include renewed working-from-home advice, a requirement for face coverings in more public places and vaccine passports being introduced for crowded venues.

On Wednesday Mr Givan discussed the response to the Omicron variant with UK Cabinet Minister Michael Gove, Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford.

Earlier Northern Ireland's chief medical officer Sir Michael McBride said there were "undoubtedly" unidentified cases of Omicron in Northern Ireland.

Health officials have linked all three cases to travel to Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

Sir Michael said he expected a "significant increase" in the number of cases before Christmas.

He also urged anyone travelling into Northern Ireland from Great Britain or the Republic of Ireland to take a lateral flow test after they arrive.

There are more than 430 confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in the UK.

Sir Michael said it was too early to say what effect the confirmation of cases in Northern Ireland would have on Covid restrictions.

"It's important at this point that we don't get ahead of ourselves," he said.

The chief medical officer said the closure of schools would be "the very, very last thing we look at".

On Wednesday, the first minister said the existing restrictions, if adhered to, would be sufficient "to get us through the Christmas period".

Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill said if there was a need to look at additional measures "that's what we'll have to do".

However, she added the advice from the Department of Health is that "what we're doing is enough".

On Wednesday Mr Givan, the first minister, was asked to comment on a video obtained by ITV showing senior Downing Street staff joking about holding a Christmas party, days after one was held there during lockdown.

He said he was "concerned" about the way the matter was being handled by Downing Street but he said it was a matter for the prime minister to deal with.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy said if Stormont had to force businesses to close then the funding for support schemes "would have to come from the executive's own resources".

"There's no indication we're getting any additional support from London," he said.

The chief medical officer said there was "concern" about how the highly-transmissible variant may affect the health service.

"If you have a large number of people who are infected at one point in time, even if a small number of the large number infected end up in hospital, that's still significant pressure on our health service," said Sir Michael.

"We need to be very careful, I think we need to be guarded and I think we need to just watch this space until we get more data."

Sir Michael said early data "is concerning" but he added: "We would be premature to get too far ahead of ourselves and certainly wrong to panic."

He said that Northern Ireland would see "many more" cases of the Omicron variant in the coming days as "we actively go and look for cases".

"I think [Omicron] numbers will take off very quickly," he said.

"I suspect that, if indeed what we are hearing about this variant comes to pass, it will probably become the dominant variant at sometime in January."

Sir Michael, who meets regularly with chief medical officers from other UK nations, said "we seem to be noticing a very short incubation period" with Omicron.

That means the time between people coming in contact with the virus and developing symptoms is potentially shorter.

"That makes it harder to keep ahead of the virus with contact tracing," he added.

Of the three Omicron cases detected in Northern Ireland, two are in the Belfast area and one in the South Eastern Health Trust area.

Sir Michael thanked the three individuals for having "co-operated fully with the Public Health Agency, enhanced contact tracing and wider testing".

Despite the outbreak of Omicron, the chief medical officer said he was "pleased" there had been a "levelling off" in pressure on hospitals in recent weeks.

Sir Michael said 10% of hospital beds in Northern Ireland were currently being taken up by patients with Covid-19, down from 15% in November.

Omicron is the most heavily mutated version of coronavirus found so far.

It was first identified in South Africa, where there is now a surge in the number of people catching Covid multiple times.

This suggests the variant might be better at sidestepping some of the protection offered by vaccines, or past infection.

However, there is not definitive proof. Even if Omicron is more infectious, there is no evidence yet that it causes more serious illness.