Northern Ireland registers nine deaths and 566 new Covid-19 cases

The North's Department of Health has recorded nine more deaths and 566 new cases of coronavirus in its daily bulletin issued on Friday afternoon.

This brings the total number of cases to 37,782 and the death toll to 697. There were 5,424 cases in the past week, an average of 774 cases per day.

Just over two weeks ago when the four-week mini-lockdown and two-week schools closure was announced the average daily incidence rate across seven days was just over 900.

There are now 354 patients receiving Covid treatment in Northern Ireland hospitals with 43 in intensive care units and 38 on ventilators.

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Mid-Ulster, with 458 cases, recorded the highest number of cases per 100,000 of population over seven days. It was followed by Derry and Strabane with 391 cases per 100,000 and Belfast with 385 cases.

The number of cases per 100,000 over the past week in the whole of Northern Ireland is 288.

Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency in its weekly bulletin reported that so far the pandemic has accounted for 979 deaths, with 37 of them occurring in the week up to Friday October 23rd. The comparative number of overall Covid deaths up to the same date recorded by the health department was 643.

The department figures differ from the agency statistics in that they relate mainly to deaths in hospital and patients who had previously tested positive for the virus. Agency figures go wider in that they relate to death certificates in the wider community where Covid-19 was recorded as a factor in the death.

Of the 979 agency total, 547 of the deaths (55.9 per cent) took place in hospitals, 363 (37.1 per cent) in care homes, eight (0.8 per cent) in hospices and 61 (6.2 per cent) at residential addresses or other locations. The 371 deaths which occurred in care homes and hospices involved 88 separate establishments.

Over the last 30 weeks 1,393 “excess deaths” (deaths above the average for the corresponding period in previous years) were registered in Northern Ireland, with the number of excess deaths in the year up to October 23rd totalling 1,134.