Coronavirus: NI death toll now stands at 802, says Nisra

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By Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI Political Reporter

Northern Ireland's coronavirus-related death toll has passed 800, official figures show.

The NI Statistics and Research Agency's latest bulletin shows there were 802 deaths by 12 June where coronavirus was mentioned on the death certificate.

Twenty-one of those deaths were registered last week, an increase of one on the previous week.

But the total number of NI-registered deaths last week (292) was just below the average five-year rate (293).

That five-year death rate is used to compare the number of weekly deaths that would normally be recorded at this time of year.

One further death

Meanwhile, the Department of Health recorded one new coronavirus-related death in its daily update on Friday.

It brings their new total, which mostly records fatalities in a hospital setting, to 544.

The total number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 now stands at 4,866 according to the department's figures - an increase of three.

Nisra also said there had been 972 "excess deaths" registered in Northern Ireland in the previous 11 weeks.

Their measure captures all deaths linked to coronavirus - those involving confirmed infections which feature in the health department's daily figures, as well as the suspected cases in which coronavirus is mentioned on the death certificate.

Some will be unrecorded Covid-19 deaths, but others may be the result of the strain on healthcare systems and a variety of other factors.

Most deaths linked to care homes

This is the first time in seven weeks that the number of Covid-linked deaths in NI recorded by Nisra has not fallen.

NI's Department of Health, which releases daily figures, had recorded 540 deaths in total - more than 200 fewer - by 12 June.

The daily numbers mostly reflect hospital deaths and where patients had tested positive for the virus, whereas Nisra's weekly figures cover all fatalities in which coronavirus has been recorded on the death certificate.

The report says of the 802 deaths Nisra recorded by 12 June, 407 (50.7%) occurred in hospital; 340 (42.4%) occurred in care homes and eight (1%) occurred in hospices.

Residential addresses or another location are recorded as being the site of 47 deaths (5.9%).

The deaths in care homes and hospices involved 78 separate establishments, Nisra reported.

However, Nisra figures also show that people who live in care homes have accounted for more than half (51.4%) of Covid-linked deaths in Northern Ireland.

Of those deaths, 412 (82.5%) occurred in a care home, but 72 people whose usual address was in a care home died in hospital.

People aged over 75 accounted for almost 80% of all Covid-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland.

The latest figures from Nisra also include a breakdown of all Covid-19 related deaths by council area.

Of the 11 councils, Belfast has recorded the most deaths, 234, while Fermanagh and Omagh has registered the fewest deaths, at 16.

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