Social distancing may need to be reintroduced in January, Northern Ireland's chief medical officer Sir Michael McBride says
The chief medical officer says if new measures are needed, they should be introduced early
"That means getting your vaccine, getting your booster, wearing your face covering, working from home where you can," he said.Omicron is likely to become the dominant variant in Northern Ireland in January, according to Sir Michael, who said before that happens "we certainly do need to give our health service some respite".
"We can see that in terms of the impact it's had on hospital admissions and pressures which have reduced but unfortunately now have plateaued somewhat," he said.The Stormont Executive is braced for hard decisions in the New Year, but not before then.