NI prisons are seeing a spike in cases of Covid-19

Prisons in Northern Ireland are seeing a spike in Covid-19 case numbers, a Stormont committee has heard.

Ronnie Armour, Director General of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, told the Justice Committee that in Maghaberry Prison in Co Antrim, 11 prisoners in Bush House tested positive around three weeks ago.

In the same prison, he said 31 prisoners in Davis House have tested positive, and one prisoner at Magilligan in the north west

“All of these prisoners are well with only mild symptoms,” he told MLAs.

“We are at the moment working through our recovery plan and we are easing the restrictions, in-person visiting, for example, is back in place, so I think with the spread of Omicron in society and the relaxing of measures within the prison we are now seeing for the first time an increase in the number of prisoners testing positive.

“However, on the positive side of that, 82% of the prison population have had their second dose of the vaccine and 60% have had their booster jab, so we are in a much better place to face an increase in the number of cases now than we would have been if we’d have been facing this challenge two years ago.”

Mr Armour said during February, 128 operational members of staff tested positive as well.

“We are still managing Covid on a daily basis,” he said.

“It is a challenge. We still have significant numbers of staff absent because of Covid, at the end of last week it was around 50 members of staff and that fluctuates up and down. To have 128 test positive in February was a very significant number for us in terms of staff levels.”

Meanwhile across Northern Ireland, three more people who had previously tested positive for Covid-19 have died, the Department of Health said on Thursday.

A further 2,408 confirmed cases of the virus were recorded in the previous 24-hour reporting period.

On Thursday morning there were 483 Covid-19 patients in hospital, five of whom were in intensive care.