BREAKING: 5 new COVID-19 related deaths and 1,039 new cases

By Peter Moor

Five more people have died in Northern Ireland having contracted COVID-19 according to the Department of Health.

There has now been 629 OVID-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland according to the Department.

This number mainly covers hospital related deaths unlike the figures released by NISRA last week which said 915 people had died in connection with COVID-19.

NISRA uses information based on death certificates whereas the Department of Health only records people who die after testing positive for the virus.

1,039 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Northern Ireland in the past 24 hours.

In the past seven days, the Department of Health has recorded 6,791 new cases of Coronavirus.

It brings the total number of infections here since the start of the pandemic to 29.992.

289 people with COVID-19 are in hospitals across Northern Ireland with 32 of these being in intensive care beds, 26 being on ventilators.

59 ICU beds are being occupied by other non-COVID-19 patients.

Therefore, there are now 17 ICU beds unoccupied across the region's hospitals.

Department of Health logo

The Department of Health data also showed 83 care homes here now have confirmed outbreaks of the virus, with 10 having suspected outbreaks.

226 care homes now have closed outbreaks.