A patient who tested positive for Covid-19 has died in a hospital in Northern Ireland, the Department of Health has confirmed.

The patient was elderly, had an underlying medical condition and was being treated in a hospital in the greater Belfast area.

Northern Ireland's chief social worker has said the health and social care system must act as one when it comes to accessing personal protective equipment.

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"Care homes should look to their own supplied for PPE protective equipment in the first instance," Sean Holland said.

"If they don't have enough to meet the demands that they're facing their local trust must support them."

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Manager of City Centre Initiative Jim Roddy told BBC Radio Foyle that over 172 city centre businesses have closed in Londonderry because of the coronavirus outbreak.

"As of last night, we counted 172 businesses and that is just in the city centre," Mr Roddy said.

Mr Roddy told the BBC Foyle Breakfast Show on Wednesday he estimated around 80 businesses had closed, but on Thursday, after careful calculations, said his estimation was far lower than the actual bleak reality.

"It is much worse, you're talking thousands of lost jobs," Mr Roddy said.

Mr Roddy has since reported these figures on to the Department for the Economy and the Department of Finance to "paint an honest picture for financial aid".

Chief Social Work Officer Sean Holland says people are being encouraged to minimise visits to care homes.

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"It’s not a blanket ban at this stage, but certainly I’d ask all relatives and carers to think carefully about going into a home where there are very vulnerable people," he said.

"Also I think its important that staff in those homes support residents to stay in touch with their families using ways that they may not normally use."

Professor Eileen Evason, who is chair of the Welfare Reform Mitigations Working Group, has warned the UK is facing "a catastrophe" in relation to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the unemployed as she claims the benefits system has been "shredded over the last 10 years".

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She said the system was complicated but outlined three key elements:

She said that if a person was ill or self-isolating there is a provision called statutory sick pay which "is payable to employees, not the self-employed, who are earning over £118 a week" and is worth £94 a week.

"The difficulty with this is it is paid by employers and the employers themselves may be going under and then it gets very complicated," she added.

"Secondly, for people who have become unemployed as a result we have the contributory jobseekers' allowance that's again for employees, self-employed left out, it's £73 a week for six months."

Professor Evason said that to "plug all the gaps" the government is relying on Universal Credit which can be claimed if "you are self-employed or unemployed".

"This is the new benefit that's been coming in over the last year or so across the UK, it has caused hardship, confusion and difficulty and it seems to be our only defence unless the government comes up with something else quick."

Some relief for the parents of children receiving free school meals.

Education Minister Peter Weir has confirmed action is being taken to cover the gap left by schools being out, and said the lead was being taken by the Department for Communities.

"You may see something which is the immediate response, and then a more measured response once you get beyond that," he said.

"We will be working to support that."

Education Minister Peter Weir has been on the Nolan Show to talk about what is going to be done to provide school places for children of key healthcare staff.

He said he had spoken to UK Education Secretary Gavin Williamson on Wednesday, and a limited number of schools in Northern Ireland would open from Monday for the children of healthcare workers.

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Mr Weir said after next week the scheme will be expanded to the children of other key staff, citing haulage workers as an example.

He said work was being done to establish a comprehensive list of key workers.

For other pupils, Mr Weir emphasised that there "will be teaching through online resources".

"The aim is throughout this process is for teaching to continue, and for teaching to continue to the end of the academic year on this basis," he said.

Gary Kelly, headteacher of St Kevin's College in Lisnaskea, said year 14 pupils are at the crucial point in the whole education system.

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"I would like to see the exam boards using a mixture of predicted grades from school and modular results that maybe they have done in year 13," he said

"Students always perform better at the end of year 12 and year 14 than they do at the end of year 13 and year 11, there’s always that impetus at the end to work harder for the final exam, but schools recognise that."

He added: "I would l to see some clarity for children who have worked very, very hard for five or seven years."

A school principal has said school closures may detrimentally affect many of their students in the special school sector.

Raymond McFeeters, who is principal of Castle Tower special school in Ballymena, said many of his students may struggle with the change.

"For the majority of our schools in the special school sector they need routine, they need to have very strict boundaries and they don't deal with change very easily," Mr McFeeters said.

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The school principal also questioned the feasibility of the proposed continuation of teaching children with complex special needs - whose parents work for the NHS.

"It is not just a matter of putting a teacher and a classroom assistant in front of them," Mr McFeeters said.

Many of his students have specific medical needs and any teacher would require specialised training.

Geri Cameron of the National Association of Head Teachers says they appreciate that clarity has been introduced into the schools situation.

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"What was happening was a bit of a freefall where parents were withdrawing children from school in a bit of a random way," she said.

"The priority of all members of the education workforce is that children and young people’s learning continuity needs to be maintained and we are absolutely clear and dedicated to that."

Eugene Diamond, who owns a newsagent in Ballymena, said that he has already seen a big drop off in schoolchildren visiting his shop, even before the schools are due to close on Monday.

"We have seen a drop in the number of children in my area because we would have been full of youth clubs and things like that there and schools," said Mr Diamond, speaking to BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster programme.

"It's as if somebody has kidnapped them."

He said that he was finding it difficult to source paracetamol and toilet roll too.

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Jacqui White, general secretary of the Ulster Teachers' Union welcomed the decision to close schools in Northern Ireland from Monday, but said many issues still need to be resolved.

Ms White said there are still many outstanding issues on what school closures "will actually look like".

She highlighted the need for many children to still receive school meals and that many rural areas in Northern Ireland do not have sufficient internet access to facilitate online learning.

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The general secretary told BBC Radio Foyle that she believes many external exams will not go ahead, but said Northern Ireland may be in a slightly better position because a lot of external exams are modular.

"Children have been working through various aspects of those exams to date. What happens now remains to be seen, but we hope to clarify this soon," Ms White said.

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A Londonderry pharmacist has said his service is facing "unprecedented pressures" because of the global pandemic.

Liam Bradley, who runs Bradley's pharmacy, said he may have to reduce opening hours due to staff shortages.

A lot of his staff are young mothers and Mr Bradley said with school closures many may now be unable to continue their regular working hours.

Mr Bradley said issues around customers stockpiling, particularly paracetamol, is also putting a strain on his business.

"People are trying to get three months worth of medication in one week," Mr Bradley said.

"The system simply can't cope".

Mr Bradley stressed that people will get their medication, but may have to wait.

Schools across Northern Ireland are putting plans in place for remote learning for pupils before all close due to the coronavirus.

They'll shut their doors from Monday.

There are set to be efforts to run some schools specifically for the children of health and emergency workers, but those plans are still being developed.

That's also the case when it comes to making sure children on free school meals are provided for. There's also the issue of how vulnerable children will continue to get services like counselling they rely on in school.

And though there will be no physical GCSE and A Level exams this summer, there will still be results for pupils but we don't know how they will decided yet.

Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of how the coronavirus pandemic is affecting people in Northern Ireland.

We'll keep you updated throughout the day on the latest official guidance, as well as reaction and analysis.