Twenty more Covid-related deaths in NI amid winter spike

Most of the deaths have taken place in hospitals in Northern Ireland

A further 20 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported in the most recent 24-hour period, according to Department of Health figures.

In its figures for Friday, it also reported a further 1,500 positive tests for the virus.

Hospital bed occupancy for Covid beds stood at 99% on Friday, with 599 beds occupied, up from 569 on Thursday.

Intensive care beds for Covid-19 stood at 83% occupation, with 45 occupied, up from 44 on Thursday.

The daily figure for deaths recorded by the Department of Health takes in a 24-hour period from 10:00 until the same time the following morning.

The figure is subject to be changed later, as Covid-related deaths are assigned to the day in which they occurred - rather than the initial reporting period.

The Moderna jab has become the third Covid vaccine approved in the UK

The rising figures come as a third coronavirus vaccine is approved for use in the UK.

The UK has pre-ordered 17 million doses of US firm Moderna's jab. - 10 million more than planned - but supplies are not expected to arrive until spring.

NI Health Minister Robin Swann said that while the health service was feeling the "grave pressures of Covid" the approval of another vaccine "should serve as encouragement for everyone".

"Allocations for Northern Ireland will be part of the overall UK stock and we look forward to its arrival in the coming months," Mr Swann said.

"As with all other Covid-19 vaccines, prioritisation will be guided by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation so those most at risk from this disease can receive protection first."

The vaccine joins the Pfizer-BioNTech and Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs in gaining approval.

Mr Swann said the vaccination programme is "key to transforming life as we currently know it" but warned that because of the scale of the roll out it could be "many months before we can see any sense of normality return".

"It's important we all remain patient and wait our turn to be called while we protect those most at risk first," he added.

Deaths in 2020

Meanwhile, a total of of 1,830 Covid-related deaths have been registered in Northern Ireland to the end of 2020.

That is according to the latest bulletin from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra).

It said 88 deaths were registered in the week to Friday 25 December and 93 in the week to the 1 January 2021.

Nisra's figures are based on mentions of the virus on death certificates, so people may or may not have previously tested positive for Covid-19.

The Department of Health publishes separate figures on Covid-related fatalities, which are based on deaths from any cause within 28 days of testing positive for the disease.

The department's comparative number of deaths for Friday 1 January was 1,349.

Location of deaths

Nisra has recorded the deaths of 1,150 people in hospital, including 168 people normally resident in care homes.

Taking that figure, and the 607 who died in care homes, it means care home residents account for two-fifths of all Covid-19 related deaths (40.9%).

Other deaths were recorded in hospices (0.5%) and residential locations (6.8%).

Deaths in care homes and hospices involved 146 separate establishments.

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People aged 75 and over account for just over three-quarters of all Covid-related registered deaths (77.7%) in 2020.

Just under a quarter (23.2%) of all Covid-related registered deaths have been of people with an address in the Belfast council area.

The provisional number of deaths from all causes which were registered for the week ending 25 December was 310.

That is 40 more than the previous week and 29 more than the five-year average of 281.

For the week ending January 1, the provisional number of deaths registered was 333.

That was 23 more than the previous week and 53 more than the five-year average.

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

Nisra found 1,987 excess deaths have been registered in the past 40 weeks, since the start of the pandemic.

Meanwhile in the Republic of Ireland, 20 more coronavirus-linked deaths have been recorded, bringing the country's total to 2,327.

A further 8,248 cases of the virus were also confirmed.