'Seat separation' policy aims to tackle coronavirus spread

The seat separation policy will apply to the cinema chain's sites across Northern Ireland, including Carrickfergus and Larne.

"At Omniplex, the health and safety of our customers and staff is our top priority," a spokesperson said.

"After a thorough risk assessment and analysis of the global cinema market, we will be implementing some new measures including ‘in-cinema seat separation’ (every second seat will be unoccupied), self-scanning of tickets, increased cleaning regimes and hand sanitising stations in every cinema foyer."

Meanwhile, Sensata Technologies has conducted a 'precautionary deep clean' at one of its Northern Ireland sites.

The company has factories in Carrickfergus and in Antrim; however, the firm declined to confirm which premises was involved.

“We have been taking all necessary precautions to protect our people and our business," a spokesperson for Sensata said.

"As a matter of corporate policy, we cannot comment on specific employees but at this time we have not been made aware of any employees that have the virus. Specifically in regards to our NI site, a deep cleaning was conducted [on Monday] out of an abundance of caution. The site is now cleaned and our team was back at work on Tuesday, March 10.”