17 further COVID-19 deaths and 1,112 new cases of the virus detected

A further 17 people have died in Northern Ireland linked to Covid-19.

1,112 new cases of the virus have also been detected, according to the Department of Health.

Over 700 patients are in hospital with Coronavirus here, 53 are in ICU.

The Department of Health #COVID19 dashboard has been updated.

1,112 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Sadly, a further 17 deaths have been reported (2 deaths were outside this period).https://t.co/YN16dmGzhv pic.twitter.com/xLZQCVShKi

— Department of Health (@healthdpt) January 10, 2021

It brings the total number of people who died of the virus to 1,460 and the total confirmed cases to 88,700 since the pandemic began.

It comes as SDLP MLA Justin McNulty shared a video of ambulances lined up outside Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry on Saturday night.

He tweeted the footage saying: “Daisy Hill Hospital tonight. This is so scary for patients and staff. God bless them all.”

Northern Ireland’s health system is under severe pressure – hospitals are almost at full capacity and cancer surgery procedures are among the operations cancelled in Belfast.

There are now 703 people with the virus in hospitals across the region and 53 in ICUs.

Hospital occupancy is at 94%. There are 15 ICU beds available.

The region’s seven-day incidence rate per 100,000 of the population now stands at 556.

Newry, Mourne and Down had the highest rate at 801 per 100,000 population, followed by Mid Ulster at 751 and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon at 722.

In the past seven days 10,468 people tested positive.

New lockdown restrictions preventing people from leaving home except for essential reasons came into effect on Friday.

People can be ordered to return to their homes by police as part of measures.

The strict rules will remain in place until February 6 but will be reviewed later this month.

Some 121 people are being treated for the virus in intensive care units (ICUs) with 17 admissions in the last 24 hours.

It comes as nine further deaths and an additional 4,842 new cases of the virus were confirmed on Saturday.

Hospital staff are bracing themselves for a surge in coronavirus patients as the number of cases escalate.

Ireland’s 14-day incidence rate per 100,000 population now stands at 1,162.

The reproduction number of the virus is now between 2.4 and 3, the highest level seen throughout the pandemic.