Britain has taken a different approach to EU countries such as Ireland, which shares an open border with Northern Ireland, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson saying it was premature to take measures like closing schools and banning mass gatherings. That meant that on Monday schools were open in British-run Northern Ireland but closed just across the 500-km (300 miles) land frontier in the Irish Republic, which shut all schools and universities on Friday and also asked all pubs to shut their doors on Sunday. "There is no time for any further delay. The necessary policies and decisions all need to be taken in a manner that recognises the real and immediate risk." The differing policies in both juristictions have caused a split in Northern Ireland's power sharing government with Irish nationalists Sinn Fein calling for schools to be closed and the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) backing the British government's public health advice.

Source: bd News24 March 16, 2020 08:37 UTC