21 Covid-linked deaths in Nisra's weekly update

By David Young, PA

Twenty-one deaths linked to Covid-19 have been recorded in Northern Ireland in the latest weekly update.

The weekly toll is down six on the 27 deaths that occurred in the previous week, according to data compiled by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra).

The latest deaths, registered in the week ending March 11, take the total number of coronavirus-linked fatalities recorded by Nisra to 4,371.

The Nisra figure is drawn from different data sources and is always higher than the Department of Health’s total, as it provides a broader picture of the impact of Covid-19.

On March 11, the department had reported 3,249 deaths.

The department’s statistics focus primarily on hospital deaths and only include people who have tested positive for the virus.

Nisra obtains its data from death certificates on which Covid-19 is recorded as a factor by a medical professional, regardless of where the death took place or whether the patient tested positive.

The statistics agency reports its Covid data with a lag of a week.

The Nisra figure includes 3,038 deaths in hospital, 941 in care homes, and 392 at residential addresses, hospices or other locations.

Nisra reported that up to March 11, the deaths of 1,234 care home residents were linked to Covid-19, 28.2% of all coronavirus-related deaths.

Covid-19 was also mentioned on the death certificate of 32 of the 338 deaths registered in the week to March 11.

Some of the deaths registered in the week ending March 11 could have taken place before that week, as fatalities can take a number of days to register.

Those aged 75 and over account for 73.5% of the Covid-related deaths registered between March 19 2020 and March 11 2022.