By Q Radio News
Another four people have died with Covid-19 and a further 1,581 positive cases have been diagnosed in the past 24 hours, the Department of Health has confirmed.
There are 326 people in hospital with the disease, of whom 31 are in ICU.
All but four of those people are being ventilated.
There are six free ICU beds in Northern Ireland today.
The seven-day infection rate is 621.7 and Antrim and Newtownabbey council area has the highest rate (741.4), followed by Ards and North Down (740.8).
Mid Ulster has the lowest rate (505).
The death toll since the start of the pandemic has reached 2,932 and 20 of those deaths occured in the past seven days.
There are Covid outbreaks in 35 care homes.
Children aged 10 to 14 continue to account for the highest number of new cases (14.9%).
Covid-19 cases from March 2020: percentage of COVID tests identified as positive each month by postal district in Northern Ireland.@NISRA pic.twitter.com/LpgtxqtuIH
— Department of Health (@healthdpt) December 14, 2021