Covid-19 restrictions will not be fully lifted in the North of Ireland until 70 to 80% of people have been vaccinated, the chief medical officer has said.
At present, about 22% of adults have received at least a first dose of a vaccine.
Dr Michael McBride was speaking during a media briefing on Tuesday.
It has also been outlined that clinically vulnerable 16 to 18-year-olds could be vaccinated within weeks.
Patricia Donnelly, who heads up North’s vaccine programme, said arrangements are being made for people in this category to attend centres where they will receive the Pfizer vaccine.
Dr McBride said if the rate of case numbers keeps falling, “we will hopefully be able to do some things this summer like we did last summer”.
He added that “over time” new variants such as those which have emerged in South Africa and Brazil could be detected in NI, however, he said “they may not become the dominant strain”.
Dr McBride said he believed some restrictions could be in place “into next year”.
Speaking at a media briefing on Tuesday, Dr McBride said new variants mean “it is difficult to predict”.
“It’s really important that we ease restrictions gradually,” he said.
“We need to be realistic that the current restrictions that we have in place will be in place for a significant part of this year to a greater or lesser extent and into next year as well.”
On Tuesday, it was reported by the Department of Health that a further 10 people had died having tested positive for Covid-19.
There were a further 275 positive cases across the North.
None of the latest deaths was reported in the Derry City and Strabane District Council area where there a further 16 positive cases in the last 24 hours – the same number reported for Sunday.
The latest figures published on Tuesday show there remains 60 patients in intensive care and 579 Covid-19 inpatients.
There are 90 outbreaks in care homes, a fall from 94 on Monday.
The department’s daily dashboard reveals hospital occupancy level is now up to 96 per cent.
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