Welcome to Northern Slant’s weekly round-up of local virus-related items you might have missed. The next update will appear on 26 June. Previous updates are here, for the weeks ending: 

June 12,   June 5,

May 29May 15May 8,  May 1;

April 24 April 17 April 10.

You might like to read the thoughts of some of our contributors – and perhaps add your own – on ‘Hopes for Northern Ireland.’

See Also:

Surgery and Trauma: A Junior Doctor’s Perspective of Lockdown and Why We Can’t Repeat it – June 18


Lockdown lore, f
rom Newry to Indonesi
a by Fionnbharr Rodgers – 16 June

How churches can continue to function during lockdown by Jason Sime – 6 May

The impact of Covid-19 on farming and food production by Ben McAteer – 5 May

From ‘Flattening the Curve’ to ‘Bending the Curve’? Lessons from responses to Coronavirus for addressing our planetary emergency by John Barry – 21 April

And read a first-person account from the beginning of the pandemic by NS contributor Callum McNeill here:

Escaping The Coronavirus – February 9

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More steps to easing lockdown

Chief Medical Officers across the UK said a “steady decrease” in cases meant the Coronavirus alert level could be lowered from 4 to 3, with implications for further easing of lockdown restrictions. The news comes as NI Dept of Health figures showed the total  number of Covid-19-related deaths here was now 544.

Meanwhile, as it was announced that social distancing in schools would be reduced from two to one meters, Education Minister Peter Weir said a number of schools may not be able to return to full-capacity teaching in September.

Economic impact felt in the air and on the ground

Aer Lingus could be the latest airline to shed staff as a result of restricted activity during the pandemic. Meanwhile, Belfast International Airport is seeing more passenger flights open up, even if new quarantine instructions remain disruptive.

Other virus news items this week: 

Calls for hope & calls to action 

Northern Slant aims to highlight some of the good news stories happening all around us. We’ll also show how communities are responding to the crisis, sharing details of how you might be able to get involved yourself. 

Calls for Hope 

Calls to Action 

Information and Resources 

Keep up with the latest updates from the Northern Ireland Department of Health here

And from Belfast City Council here

Have a good weekend.