A Christmas light show in Lisbon has been suspended due to a large crowd in the next few days.

Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council have reported a significant increase in the number of visitors to the area.

In October, the council backed a decision to hold the Lisbon Light Festival this year.

The Lights Festival has been operating for the past two years at a cost of $ 535,000.

In a statement, Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council said: “Due to the popularity of light animations in Lisburn, we are closely monitoring the situation in the coming days.

“We took more steps over the weekend to ensure that people could safely enjoy the animations.

“However, today (Saturday, December 5) there was a significant increase in the number of people in the city to see the lights.

“As a result, we decided to pause the animations until further notice.

“The lights will be on, but the animated displays will not work at certain times.

“Also, the lights in the tunnel will be temporarily turned off.

“We apologize to those who would like to see the animations next week.

“However, this decision is based on the health and safety of all who visit our city.

“We will review the situation very carefully and provide an update in a timely manner.”

Eleven more Covid-19s have died in Northern Ireland. The death toll rose to 1,050.

The health department confirmed 419 new cases. A total of 55,047 cases.

The hospital has 413 coronavirus patients, 30 in the ICU and 24 on ventilators.

In Northern Ireland the average seven-day infection rate per lakh is 157.2. The highest rate in the Mid and East Antrim Council area was 237.4 and the highest in the Rhodes and North own 92.