Northern Ireland is to enter a period of intensified coronavirus restrictions after the Stormont executive announced closures of schools, pubs and restaurants.

Pubs and restaurants will close for four weeks, with the exception of takeaways and deliveries, while schools will close on Monday for two weeks, one of which will cover the half-term break.

It comes as new restrictions come into effect across the North East and North Yorkshire today. 

What you CAN and CANNOT do in the North-East under new rules today

The measures being introduced in Northern Ireland do not amount to a full-scale lockdown similar to that imposed during the first wave of the virus, but they mark a significant ramping up of the administration’s response to spiralling infection rates.

Retail outlets will remain open, as will gyms for individual training.

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

People should work from home unless unable to do so, and are urged not to take unnecessary journeys.

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

Off licences will be required to shut at 8pm.

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.

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

“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.

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

A further seven deaths with Covid-19 and another 863 cases were reported by the Department of Health on Tuesday.

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.