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All people arriving into Northern Ireland should be made to isolate in a quarantine centre and the measure should be put in place urgently, a leading expert has said.
Independent SAGE member, Professor Martin McKee, has criticised a delay by the Executive to implement strict border measures to stop Covid-19 variants from taking hold in Northern Ireland.
And he said he fears that political sensitivities over borders in Northern Ireland may be a driving factor in the refusal to completely close the border that may ultimately result in more Covid-19 cases here.
It comes just days after the chief medical officer, Dr Michael McBride, warned that it is only a matter of time before the more infectious South African variant arrives in Northern Ireland.
More than 900 cancer operations have been cancelled in Northern Ireland since the start of the year.
Figures from the Health and Social Care Board highlighted the devastating effect of the latest Covid-19 surge on the system s ability to cope with people diagnosed with cancer.
In total, 2,094 elective procedures were cancelled between January 5 and February 1 - an average of 70 axed procedures every day.
Of these, 909 were surgical procedures on patients suspected of having cancer, or on people who had been diagnosed with the disease.
The figures relate only to operations that were scheduled and then cancelled.
They do not include those patients who have been diagnosed but have not yet been given a date for surgery and now face an indefinite delay.
Political fractures over funerals, stumbling on school re-opening and mixed messages linked to lockdowns are likely all to have led to a majority of people here believing that Stormont has hindered Northern Ireland s response to the pandemic.
The women are becoming much older, and have many and varied health issues, and the longer it goes on, many will die, she said. A public inquiry is necessary and what we deserve. It needs to be addressed and it needs to be addressed promptly.
She described the 500-plus page report as a step in the right direction but said it hadn t gone far enough.
It detailed how victims of rape and incest had been put in the mother and baby homes. Women reported how they had to scrub floors during the final stages of pregnancy, and were described as fallen and stigmatised.