prepared for any potential future waves of the virus.| that was emma vardy at stormont. our medical editor fergus walsh is with me. first question is lots of people are asking today, are these changes announced by borisjohnson justified by the latest figures on the pandemic?— by the latest figures on the andemic? , ., , ., , pandemic? the number of people in hosital pandemic? the number of people in hospital with — pandemic? the number of people in hospital with covid _ pandemic? the number of people in hospital with covid has _ pandemic? the number of people in hospital with covid has been - pandemic? the number of people in hospital with covid has been falling | hospital with covid has been falling every month and overall deaths this winter are lower than normal so there has been no access from omicron. as a population level we have very strong protection from covid as a result of highly effective vaccines and millions of us have had our immunity topped up from getting omicron, plus we have these highly effective drugs. a totally different position from where we were a year ago. the dispute today is about the timing of this, especially the removal of free covid testing even if you have symptoms from all but a small limited number of groups and social