Belfast city centre under lockdown earlier in 2020. Picture by Hugh Russell 17 December, 2020 18:33 A six-week lockdown starting on Boxing Day has been agreed by the Executive. Deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill described the situation as "quite dire" as Northern Ireland struggles to suppress coronavirus. "It's very clear from the positive cases we're seeing every day that an urgent intervention was required," she said. "The Executive had detailed discussion about what that needed to be: around the duration of that and the specifics. "What has been decided today is that there's going to be a six-week lockdown that begins on December 26. That will stay in place for a period of six weeks."