The Health Minister has insisted the Government's coronavirus approach is "nuanced" rather than confusing or contradictory.
Stephen Donnelly has moved to clarify the new measures and explain why different rules are in place for different groups and settings.
The Government announced a new batch of restrictions yesterday evening, including new limits on gatherings in houses and at sporting events.
Some of the messaging was swiftly criticised by opposition parties as confusing.
Speaking on The Hard Shoulder, Minister Donnelly insisted the measures are not confusing or contradictory.
He suggested the new advice is more "nuanced" than the earlier and simpler lockdown message of 'stay at home'.
He said: “Why are we saying work at home where you can, but next week we want to send the kids to school? Because one of the priorities is to get the schools open.
“For work, the message is please stay at home if at all possible. Why? Because we are seeing clusters from workplaces.
“We know that being on a train or bus for a long time is a higher risk environment. The public health advice is if you need public transport, use it… but if you can avoid public transport, please avoid it."
The Health Minister said the new advice covers different groups of people going to different places - meaning the advice itself differs from group to group.
In terms of school transport, he said not every family or household has access to a car, and therefore work is underway to ensure school buses can operate as safely as possible.
Sporting events
Minister Donnelly said it was decided not to allow spectators at sporting events as health officials have identified cases arising from "activities around matches" rather than the matches themselves.
He said: "It’s not the people standing in the stadiums - it’s the gatherings beforehand, the gatherings afterwards, and the travel to and from.
“I think the public health doctors deserve a lot of credit - the easiest thing for them to do was say we’re going to cancel sports for the next three and a half weeks, because they’re concerned we’re at a tipping point in terms of this virus.
“But what they said is sports and exercise are important… the data doesn’t back up cases coming from the actual sports events themselves.
“One person could say that’s confusing and a mixed message. I would say it’s a very nuanced approach."
He said the whole approach is about "managing risk", and the Government wants to avoid another hard lockdown.
Minister Donnelly said: "Why not go for a hard lockdown? The hit in terms of jobs and businesses would potentially be very, very severe.
"Take the tourism and hospitality sector that employs a huge number of people all over the country… can you imagine the long-term damage if, for the last two weeks of August, where they're trying to get a bit of money in to pay their wages and their bills… can you the impact that would have?"
He said that while the lockdown earlier this year was necessary, another one would see people on waiting lists would facing further delays to their planned procedures and operations.
He pointed out that waiting list numbers were already at record numbers before COVID-19 hit, but have 'skyrocketed' due to the impact of the pandemic.
