SDLP leader and Foyle MP Colum Eastwood
The Foyle MP has written today to the First and deputy First Ministers making the case for commissioning and publishing a Lockdown Exit Strategy based on mass testing and requesting an update on offers to produce home testing kits.
The British government is expected to announce this afternoon that the lockdown will continue for a further three weeks in an effort to save lives and stop the spread of Coronavirus.
However, it is under pressure to announce what its exit strategy will be after those three weeks are up.
A number of countries across Europe have already started a phased opening of some shops but scientists have warned that there is a real possibility of a second wave of Coronavirus in the coming weeks.
Said Mr Eastwood: “The SDLP is committed to working constructively with the Executive as well as the British and Irish Governments to manage our response to the coronavirus crisis.
“I continue to believe, however, that there is no way out of this pandemic that doesn’t involve a mass testing and tracing programme that will allow us to identify the scale of infection, transmission and recovery in our communities.
“I have written to the First and deputy First Ministers today outlining the need for a lockdown exit strategy, based on a radical testing regime, that will allow us to phase our recovery and identify the right time to lift social and economic restrictions.
“This should be designed on an all-island basis by leading experts.
“I have also asked for an update on offers received by the Executive to produce antibody home testing kits which will significantly accelerate this process and could be a game changer in our response to the crisis.
“This is about saving lives.
“We’re doing all we can to help, and I know Nichola Mallon is making every possible resource in her Department available to other Ministers to help fight this virus.
“The time to press ahead with a bespoke plan to protect our communities and prevent unnecessary deaths on this island is now.”
