Coronavirus: Nisra records first fall in death toll for two months

For the first time in about two months, the weekly number of Covid-19 related deaths registered in Northern Ireland has fallen.

According to the latest bulletin from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra), 81 deaths were registered in the week to last Friday.

That is 19 fewer than the previous week.

It takes the agency's total of registered deaths in Northern Ireland to 1,382.

The Department of Health's daily figure is based on a positive test result having been recorded.

Its comparative number of deaths for Friday 27 November was 981.

Nisra's figures are based on mentions of the virus on death certificates, so people may or may not have previously tested positive for the virus.

On that measure, it has recorded the deaths of 832 people in hospital, including 120 people normally resident in care homes.

Taking that figure, and the 474 who died in care homes, it means care home residents account for just over two-fifths of all Covid-19 related deaths (42.1%).

Other deaths happened in hospices and residential locations.

People aged 75 and over account for around two-thirds of all Covid-19 related deaths (65.2%).

The provisional number of all deaths for the week ending 27th November was 348.

That is 48 fewer than the previous week and 37 more than the five-year average of 311.

Excess deaths are those above what would normally be expected at the time of year, averaged over five years.

Nisra found 1,790 excess deaths have been registered in the past 35 weeks.

The Department of Health announced 11 Covid-related deaths on Thursday, bringing its total since the start of the pandemic to 1,026.

It also announced 456 new cases of the virus.