BREAKING: 6 new COVID-19 related deaths and 820 new cases

By Peter Moor

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

There has been 621 COVID-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 015 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.

820 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Northern Ireland in the past 24 hour.

In the past seven days, the Department of Health has recorded 7,056 new cases of Coronavirus.

It brings the total number of infections here since the start of the pandemic to 28.040.

The Department of Health data also showed 80 care homes here now have confirmed outbreaks of the virus, with 10 having suspected outbreaks.

220 care homes now have closed outbreaks.

Today 6 people have died as a result of Covid. My thoughts are with the families bereaved.
It is evident that the covid situation is deteriorating rapidly. The next four weeks are critical and we all need to work together to try and gain back some control. #WashYourHands

— Michelle O’Neill (@moneillsf) October 19, 2020

261 people with COVID-19 are in hospitals across Northern Ireland with 29 of these being in intensive care beds, 25 being on ventilators.

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

Therefore, there are now 19 ICU beds unoccupied across the region's hospitals.