normality. what are the covid figure is like in northern ireland? - is like in northern ireland? politicians are always keen to tell us they are following the science. yes, the ministers this afternoon received presentations input from the chief scientific 0fficer received presentations input from the chief scientific officer and the chief medical officer here, so they will say they have been following the advice. northern ireland has at various points in this pandemic had the highest infection rate of the uk's for nations and also points out there for the highest death rate. there has also been some concern in recent weeks that the vaccination uptake has not been quite as good as in the rest of the uk. that concern really emerged over the summer. but over the last fortnight really we have seen cases, the number of positive covert tests here start to fall. also the pressure on hospitals has eased slightly, although it is still very much an issue for the health service here, and, true to that we have fortunately the number of people here dying after a positive covid test her starting to fall as well, so the numbers have