NI Health Minister calls for greater north-south coordination in tracing international arrivals

Medical staff in the respiratory emergency department at Craigavon Area Hospital in Co Armagh, Northern Ireland. Picture: Press Association

The Northern Ireland Health Minister wants more cooperation between the Executive and the Irish Government in tracing international travellers to the island.

Robin Swann has written to Stephen Donnelly saying there are issues with the system in monitoring people who cross the border after arriving from an at-risk country.

He said the only "logical solution" is to get travellers into the island of Ireland to give data to authorities that is available to officials in both jurisdictions.

The call comes after Northern Ireland announced it will be launching its Covid-19 contact tracing app next week. 

This afternoon the @niahealth committee were given a demo of the Contact Tracing app for Northern Ireland.

The full briefing on contact tracing will be available on https://t.co/0PVd1lpJ4z later today.#covid19 #ContactTracing #apps pic.twitter.com/nSsGCMjYW8

— Northern Ireland Assembly (@niassembly) July 23, 2020

It will be called Stop Covid NI and will be aimed at interrupting the spread of coronavirus by finding those most at risk of catching it.

Should someone receive a positive test for the disease, they will have a unique code texted to the phone.

Data will be shared across the border with Ireland as well, meaning someone from Northern Ireland travelling in the South that makes contact with a confirmed case will also receive a notification.