BREAKING: 5 new COVID-19 related deaths and 1,252 new cases according to Department of Health

By Peter Moor

Five more people have died in Northern Ireland having contracted COVID-19 according to the Department of Health.

There has now been 639 COVID-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland according to the Department.

This number mainly covers hospital related deaths unlike the figures released by NISRA today which said 942 people had died in connection with COVID-19 - 27 up to the end of last week.

NISRA uses information based on death certificates whereas the Department of Health only records people who die after testing positive for the virus.

1,252 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Northern Ireland in the past 24 hours.

In the past seven days, the Department of Health has recorded 6,893 new cases of Coronavirus.

It brings the total number of infections here since the start of the pandemic to 32,286.

296 people with COVID-19 are in hospitals across Northern Ireland with 34 of these being in intensive care beds, 25 being on ventilators

57 ICU beds are being occupied by other non-COVID-19 patients.

Therefore, there are now 19 ICU beds unoccupied across the region's hospitals.

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The Department of Health data also showed 92 care homes here now have confirmed outbreaks of the virus, with 11 having suspected outbreaks.

227 care homes now have closed outbreaks.