Healthcare workers are to be given access to leisure centres for showering and changing to help reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus.
Three leisure centres in Belfast will be available for use from this week – Andersonstown, Shankill and Lisnasharragh – with four more to be opened over the coming weeks
Belfast Lord Mayor Councillor Daniel Baker said: “I’m pleased that we are in a position to support our frontline health workers in this way. Our NHS is under incredible pressure at the moment.
"Health workers are risking their own health to care for others and having access to our facilities means they can be guaranteed a safe and clean environment to shower and change between shifts, and reduce the risk of spreading coronavirus when they return home to their loved ones.”
Access will be granted to Belfast Trust staff seven days a week, from 5.30am-12.30pm and 4.30pm-10.30pm daily.
Regular cleaning and security is being provided at each of the sites.
Yesterday millions of items of personal protective equipment (PPE) arrived in the north.
The equipment, which was authorised and sent by the British government, includes 1.3 million aprons and 307,800 respirator masks.
Nurses in two health trusts have contacted a lawyer in a desperate bid to get supplies and demand "priority" testing.
A surge in cases due to the numbers infected with Covid-19 before lockdown was imposed is due to reach its peak over the next fortnight.
