Two young children with swine flu have died in Northern Ireland.
The death of a 10-month-old baby boy was announced tonight, only hours after the authorities said a two-year-old boy with the virus had died.
The baby had underlying health problems.
It is not known if the two-year-old, who was from the Republic, was also suffering from another condition as his family have asked for those details to remain private.
The death takes to 19 the confirmed number of people with the H1N1 virus that have died in Northern Ireland this flu season.
The first two deaths from flu in the Republic this season were confirmed on Thursday as rates of flu-like illness in the community continue to increase.
The rates of infection almost doubled in the past week for the second week in a row, with more than 9,000 cases of flu diagnosed.
The two deaths from flu were those of an adult male in the east and an adult female in the west. Both had underlying health conditions. One died from swine flu, the other from influenza B. One was over 65.
Dr Tony Holohan, chief medical officer at the Department of Health, said the rate of influenza-like illness in the community was 204 cases in 100,000 of the population this week, compared to a corrected figure of 109 in 100,000 last week.
This is among the highest rates recorded to date. In October 2009 during the swine flu pandemic, a rate of 210 cases in 100,000 was reported, but was corrected a week later to 201.2 cases in 100,000.
Some 393 people have now been admitted to hospital with flu, up from 114 a week ago, and 72 people have been admitted to intensive care, up from 33 last week. Forty-two patients remain in intensive care, five of whom are children. The sharp rise in admissions was partly attributed to delayed reporting over the holidays.