BBC News Northern Ireland

Alan Chambers of the UUP asks about the inevitability of a second surge in Covid and whether employers checking employees temperatures is “a useful filter”.

Prof Ian Young says there is “certainly potential for another outbreak” adding that will “remain the case until we have substantial levels of immunity in the population”.

He says this would need to be around 70 to 80% of the population.

The CSA says the “best estimates” for NI at the minute for immunity is “probably around 5%” but he says he expects “accurate figures on that later this month”.

NI Assembly

Prof Young says we “need a vaccine which works” adding that he hopes any potential future outbreak would not be of “such severity that it would overwhelm the system, but anything remains possible”.

Turning to heat testing, Prof Young says it’s an issue which has been “looked at by the strategic intelligence group” in the department.

He says the suggestions are that heat testing may pick up “around one quarter of people who are currently infectious” but adds that temperature checking in this way is at the “price of identifying a lot of people who aren’t infectious and telling them to go home and isolate”.