Northern Ireland has highest Covid-19 infection rate in UK

Northern Ireland has the highest rate of Covid-19 infection in the UK, at 579.5 per 100,000 people.

It is the highest infection rate in the North since January 8th.

Fermanagh & Omagh has the highest rate of any local authority in the UK, with a total of 1,003.9 cases per 100,000 people recorded in the seven days to August 18th.

Nine further deaths of patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 were reported in Northern Ireland on Monday, along with another 1,320 confirmed cases of the virus.

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Coronavirus: 1,558 cases reported in State, with 262 in hospital

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On Monday morning there were 352 Covid-positive patients in hospital, of whom 43 were in intensive care.

Lockdown

Stormont health minister Robin Swann appeared to rule out another lockdown being agreed at the next meeting of the Executive in September.

“I don’t think we are at that point yet about putting more restrictions back in,” he told the BBC.

“The Executive meets again in the first week in September in regards to what’s still in place and what we’ll look at in regards to the next steps, and that’s where that decision will be made.”

Meanwhile, the department of health said some 12,194 first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were delivered in Northern Ireland at the weekend.

It came during an initiative to boost numbers of those vaccinated called the Big Jab Weekend.

Following the closure of the large-scale vaccination centre at the SSE Arena in Belfast, the next phase of the programme is set to focus on localised pop-up walk-in clinics, both in high footfall locations and in areas where accessibility issues and other barriers may have impacted on take-up. – PA