Covid-19: Weekly NI death rate falls for eleventh week

The number of weekly Covid 19-linked deaths in Northern Ireland is continuing to fall.

In the week leading up to 17 July, the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) said the virus was mentioned on the death certificates of two people.

That is seven fewer than the previous week.

Three more Covid-19 related deaths were recorded in the same period but were not registered until the week after.

It means there has been a total of 850 Covid-19 related deaths according to Nisra.

By the same date the Department of Health's daily figure, based on positive test results, was 556 - almost 300 fewer.

Of this total, 446 (52.5%) took place in hospital, 347 (40.8%) in care homes, eight (0.9%) in hospices and 49 (5.8%) at residential addresses or other locations.

The 355 deaths that occurred in care homes and hospices involved 81 separate establishments.

It is the eleventh week since Nisra began reporting that the figure has gone down.