BREAKING: 3 new COVID-19 related deaths and 877 new cases of the virus

By Peter Moor

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

There has been 591 COVID-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland according to the Department.

This number mainly covers hospital related deaths unlike the figures released by NISRA earlier today which said 906 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.

877 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Northern Ireland in the past 24 hours.- that is the XXX highest daily total of new cases.

In the past seven days, the Department of Health has recorded 6,161new cases of Coronavirus.

It brings the total number of infections here since the start of the pandemic to 21,035

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The Department of Health data also showed 46 care homes here now have confirmed outbreaks of the virus, with 11 having suspected outbreaks.

215 care homes now have closed outbreaks.

140 people with COVID-19 are in hospitals across Northern Ireland with  22 of these being in intensive care beds, 15 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.