There have been six further Covid-19 linked deaths in the last 24-hour reporting period in Northern Ireland and 923 new cases of the virus, the Department of Health confirmed on Satuday.
The death toll recorded by the department now stands at 645. There have been 33,209 confirmed cases in Northern Ireland. There are currently 309 patients with Covid-19 being treated in hospital, with 34 in intensive care.
Covid-19 has been identified in half of all schools in Northern Ireland since the beginning of term, according to the North’s Public Health Agency (PHA).
Data published by the PHA showed there were 2,030 confirmed cases of Covid 19 in schools between their reopening on August 24th, and October 18th, when schools closed for an extended, two-week half-term holiday.
In total, 608 Covid 19 incidents involving 519 schools were reported, the PHA said.
The Southern Trust has advised people to slow down while driving and avoid doing household tasks which might lead to injury because of the “extreme pressures” experienced at its hospitals.
“Currently, our hospitals are rightly gearing up for the latest coronavirus surge and we will not have the resources to provide our normal high level of service within orthopaedics,” said consultant Dr Ronan McKeown.
“If people do injure themselves, we may not be able to offer them the surgery they need at this time which may unfortunately lead to long term health consequences for those individuals.”
Chair of the Stormont Heath Committee Sinn Féin MLA Colm Gildernew said it was “unacceptable” patients were not receiving the urgent care they needed.