Plans for a four-week 'circuit breaker' lockdown have been announced for Northern Ireland, after a further seven deaths with Covid-19 and 863 cases were reported by the Department of Health on Tuesday.

The additional restrictions are due to come into force from Friday.

The Stormont executive announced a series of intensified coronavirus restrictions will be in place, with the closure of schools, pubs and restaurants.

With the exception of takeaways and deliveries, pubs and restaurants will be required to close for four weeks - and schools are set to close on Monday for two weeks, giving children an additional week off from school over the half-term break. 

While the measures do not amount to a full-scale lockdown similar to that imposed during the first wave of the virus, they do mark a significant intensification of Northern Ireland's response to spiralling infection rates.

Retail outlets and churches will remain open, as will gyms - but for individual training only.

Indoor sporting activities are not allowed and outdoor contact sports will be limited to elite athletes.

It is understood a 25-person limit will be placed on funerals and weddings, but wedding receptions are prohibited.

People have also been asked to work from home unless if at all possible, and have been urged not limit travel to necessary journeys only.

Off licences will be required to shut at 8pm.

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First Minister Arlene Foster announced the restrictions at a special sitting of the Assembly on Wednesday.

She said the rising Covid-19 figures in Northern Ireland were of “grave concern”.

“We fully appreciate that this will be difficult and worrying news for a lot of people,” she told MLAs.

“The executive has taken this decision because it is necessary, and we discussed the impacts in great detail. We do not take this step lightly.”

Mrs Foster said the executive hoped the restrictions would have two impacts.

She said: “First, on the Covid transmission rates which must be turned down now, or we will be in a very difficult place very soon indeed.”

“Second, we believe it marks a point where everyone, each and every one of us, can take stock and go back to the social distancing messaging. That is vitally important.”

The restrictions were agreed after a stop-start meeting of the Stormont executive that extended past midnight and into Wednesday morning.

Mrs Foster insisted the restrictions would not last any longer than four weeks.

The current restrictions on household mixing are to remain. That means no mixing of households in private dwellings, with exceptions including those joined in social bubbles, and gatherings in the gardens of private dwellings limited to six people from no more than two households.

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The majority of the measures will come into force on Friday.

Some 6,286 new positive cases of the virus have been detected in the last seven days, bringing the total number of cases in the region to 21,898.

As of Tuesday, there were 150 patients in hospitals with Covid-19, including 23 in intensive care.

The Derry and Strabane Council area has been experiencing the highest infection rate in the UK and Ireland, with a seven-day average of 970 cases per 100,000 people.

The area is already subject to additional localised restrictions.