Health Minister Robin Swann acknowledges southern residents could be flying from Britain to Derry from areas hit with new COVID-19 variant

The minister said guidance was clear that people should not be travelling out of tier 4 areas in the south east of England where the new variant has been spreading rapidly.

However, there were concerns that following the decision of the Dublin government to ban travel from Britain to Ireland on Sunday night that people would fly to Derry and Belfast before travelling on to the 26 counties.

Speaking during a meeting of the Stormon Ad-Hoc Committee on the COVID-19 response he said: "I spoke about the guidance that is already there for anyone travelling out of tier 4 and what is currently being done with the passenger locator forms.

"I know the concern he is raising is about residents of the Republic of Ireland who are now using Belfast or Londonderry airports as a point of entry to the island. It is unfortunate that the Irish Government made their decision without any interaction or heads-up about what they were going to do.

"I noticed afterwards that they made a statement that they would engage. I am not sure what level of engagement has been had. However, in the past, the Executive have been very clear that if we want to act together and coordinate a response, it is best to talk to each other before making decisions because that allows us to express not just our concerns but also the possible common approaches, rather than just one Government moving before the other."