Northern Ireland's first minister, Arlene Foster, has announced that Northern Ireland schools will be closed for at least 16 weeks. Northern Ireland now counts 34 coronavirus cases, with five new cases recorded on Saturday. After a meeting between senior ministers, Mrs Foster said that schools will close "when we are advised on the medical evidence". "Children will be at home for quite a considerable period of time, given that when we do close the schools they will be closed for at least 16 weeks. "Then of course you are into the summer period, so they will be off school for a very long time. "In my opinion schools should close now. I think we need to be consistent across this island. "I think the fact that you can have two schools a mile apart and one school's open and one school's closed that's a very confusing picture and a very confusing message for the public."
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