{"id":17083,"date":"2021-02-24T13:02:40","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T13:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/?p=17083"},"modified":"2022-02-26T12:40:12","modified_gmt":"2022-02-26T12:40:12","slug":"is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Northern Ireland one of the most locked-down places in the world?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

According to a \u201cGovernment Stringency Index\u201d, the UK has one of the strictest lockdown policies in the world, but the Northern Ireland Executive\u2019s response is not the strictest within the UK.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During a debate<\/a> in the Northern Ireland Assembly, on a Private Members\u2019 Motion<\/a> that called for a recovery and investment strategy, Christopher Stalford MLA said<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c… I am pointing out that Northern Ireland is one of the most locked-down places in the world with regard to controlling access to education, closing off huge swathes of our economy and all the resultant trouble that will come from that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Coronavirus pandemic government responses<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The word \u201clockdown\u201d is interpreted as the responses by governments to the coronavirus pandemic, which includes business and social restrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is possible to compare the \u201cseverity\u201d of lockdowns globally<\/a> using an index score<\/a> developed by researchers at the University of Oxford. Their \u201cGovernment Stringency Index\u201d is a composite measure based on nine indicators, including school closures, workplace closures, and travel bans, rescaled to a value from 0 to 100 (100 = strictest).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 22 February 2020, the UK ranked sixth strictest (scoring 86.11) out of the available data<\/a> for 185 countries. Ireland was eighth strictest (scoring 85.19).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can explore the stringency index and other indicators using the interactive maps and charts at Our World in Data<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regional comparisons<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT) includes data for the UK regions, which was used for a working paper<\/a> that presented some comparative charts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the latest datasets<\/a>, we produced the following chart that shows how the stringency index has changed over time, among the UK regions. Northern Ireland has rarely been the most stringent UK region, with the latest available scores (10 February) for England and Wales showing that they are higher \u2014 indicating a more stringent lockdown environment \u2014 than Northern Ireland and Scotland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summary<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to a research project at the University of Oxford, we can compare responses by governments to the coronavirus pandemic. According to a \u201cGovernment Stringency Index\u201d, the UK has one of the strictest lockdown policies in the world, but the Northern Ireland Executive\u2019s response is not the strictest within the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

FactCheckNI is Northern Ireland\u2019s first and only dedicated independent fact-checking service and a verified signatory<\/a> to the International Fact-Checking Network\u2019s Code of Principles<\/a>. You can learn more about about FactCheckNI<\/a>, our personnel<\/a>, what our article verdicts<\/a> mean, and how to submit a claim<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to a \u201cGovernment Stringency Index\u201d, the UK has one of the strictest lockdown policies in the world, but the Northern Ireland Executive\u2019s response is not the strictest within the UK. During a debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly, on a Private Members\u2019 Motion that called for a recovery and investment strategy, Christopher Stalford MLA…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,26,30],"tags":[205,238,172],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIs Northern Ireland one of the most locked-down places in the world? - FactCheckNI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Northern Ireland one of the most locked-down places in the world? - FactCheckNI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to a \u201cGovernment Stringency Index\u201d, the UK has one of the strictest lockdown policies in the world, but the Northern Ireland Executive\u2019s response is not the strictest within the UK. During a debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly, on a Private Members\u2019 Motion that called for a recovery and investment strategy, Christopher Stalford MLA...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FactCheckNI\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/factcheckni\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-24T13:02:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-02-26T12:40:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/NI-Lockdown.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"FactCheckNI\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@FactCheckNI\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@FactCheckNI\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"FactCheckNI\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"FactCheckNI\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#\/schema\/person\/85d1ea0fa0159339bdadca79e73ec7fa\"},\"headline\":\"Is Northern Ireland one of the most locked-down places in the world?\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-24T13:02:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-26T12:40:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/\"},\"wordCount\":415,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/NI-Lockdown.png\",\"keywords\":[\"COVID-19\",\"public health\",\"school\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Economy\",\"Education\",\"Health\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/\",\"name\":\"Is Northern Ireland one of the most locked-down places in the world? - FactCheckNI\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/NI-Lockdown.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-24T13:02:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-02-26T12:40:12+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/NI-Lockdown.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/NI-Lockdown.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Is Northern Ireland one of the most locked-down places in the world?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/\",\"name\":\"FactCheckNI\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"FactCheckNI\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Logo-FactCheckNI-JPG-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Logo-FactCheckNI-JPG-1.jpg\",\"width\":1472,\"height\":361,\"caption\":\"FactCheckNI\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/factcheckni\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/FactCheckNI\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/factcheckni_\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/factcheckni\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#\/schema\/person\/85d1ea0fa0159339bdadca79e73ec7fa\",\"name\":\"FactCheckNI\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4dd32bb816d3f7c31c3cbc856bd695b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4dd32bb816d3f7c31c3cbc856bd695b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"FactCheckNI\"},\"description\":\"Northern Ireland's first and only dedicated fact checking service.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/factcheckni.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/author\/factcheckni\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is Northern Ireland one of the most locked-down places in the world? - FactCheckNI","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is Northern Ireland one of the most locked-down places in the world? - FactCheckNI","og_description":"According to a \u201cGovernment Stringency Index\u201d, the UK has one of the strictest lockdown policies in the world, but the Northern Ireland Executive\u2019s response is not the strictest within the UK. During a debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly, on a Private Members\u2019 Motion that called for a recovery and investment strategy, Christopher Stalford MLA...","og_url":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/","og_site_name":"FactCheckNI","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/factcheckni","article_published_time":"2021-02-24T13:02:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-02-26T12:40:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"http:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/NI-Lockdown.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"FactCheckNI","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@FactCheckNI","twitter_site":"@FactCheckNI","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"FactCheckNI","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/"},"author":{"name":"FactCheckNI","@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#\/schema\/person\/85d1ea0fa0159339bdadca79e73ec7fa"},"headline":"Is Northern Ireland one of the most locked-down places in the world?","datePublished":"2021-02-24T13:02:40+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-26T12:40:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/"},"wordCount":415,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/NI-Lockdown.png","keywords":["COVID-19","public health","school"],"articleSection":["Economy","Education","Health"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/","url":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/","name":"Is Northern Ireland one of the most locked-down places in the world? - FactCheckNI","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/NI-Lockdown.png","datePublished":"2021-02-24T13:02:40+00:00","dateModified":"2022-02-26T12:40:12+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/NI-Lockdown.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/NI-Lockdown.png","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/topics\/health\/is-northern-ireland-one-of-the-most-locked-down-places-in-the-world\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Is Northern Ireland one of the most locked-down places in the world?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/","name":"FactCheckNI","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#organization","name":"FactCheckNI","url":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Logo-FactCheckNI-JPG-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/Logo-FactCheckNI-JPG-1.jpg","width":1472,"height":361,"caption":"FactCheckNI"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/factcheckni","https:\/\/x.com\/FactCheckNI","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/factcheckni_","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/factcheckni"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#\/schema\/person\/85d1ea0fa0159339bdadca79e73ec7fa","name":"FactCheckNI","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4dd32bb816d3f7c31c3cbc856bd695b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4dd32bb816d3f7c31c3cbc856bd695b0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"FactCheckNI"},"description":"Northern Ireland's first and only dedicated fact checking service.","sameAs":["http:\/\/factcheckni.org"],"url":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/author\/factcheckni\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17083"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22796,"href":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17083\/revisions\/22796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/factcheckni.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}