Another 234 positive cases of Covid-19 here were recorded over the last 24 hours. There are 477 people here with Covid-19 in Northern Ireland's hospitals, with 59 of those in ICU.
Meanwhile, the Stormont Executive has been urged to start engaging with the hospitality industry here as thoughts turn to the eventual easing of lockdown restrictions.
Mr Neil also emphasised that the situation should be managed that this should be the last lockdown on hospitality, which has been closed here since December 24.
There is positive information about Covid-19 death rates among the vulnerable and hospitality admissions from around the UK, with the vaccine roll-out credited with lowering both of those.
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Hotel quarantine regulations come into place on Monday (15 Feb), which means all those arriving in England from a "red list" country will have to stay in a designated hotel for a period of 10 days.
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