COVID-19 LATEST: 5 more people die in Northern Ireland

By Q Radio news

Five more people who had tested positive for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland have died.

The Department of Health says there had also been 1,437 new confirmed cases of the virus in the last 24-hour reporting period.

On Friday, health chiefs in Northern Ireland warned of further surgery cancellations as staff continue to be diverted to treat increasing numbers of Covid patients in intensive care.

The Health and Social Care Board said action was needed to increase ICU capacity in hospitals across the region and the only way to achieve that was to redeploy specialist staff working in other areas of the healthcare system.

NI #COVID19 data has been updated:

1,437 positive cases and sadly, 5 deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours.

2,362,361 vaccines administered in total.

Vaccines ➡️https://t.co/Yfa0hHVmRL

The dashboard will be updated again on Monday 16 August. pic.twitter.com/1JYm27aFWB

— Department of Health (@healthdpt) August 14, 2021

The board also expressed concern at increasing numbers of unvaccinated young people and pregnant women being admitted to hospital with Covid-19.

It said there had been instances of unvaccinated pregnant women needing ICU care and emergency caesarean sections.

On Saturday, the Western health trust opened the first of three pop-up vaccine clinics for pregnant women.

The walk-in facility offering first jabs of Pfizer opened at the Foyle Arena in Londonderry. No appointments were necessary.

On Thursday, 60% of patients in ICUs in Northern Ireland were not vaccinated and 13% only had received one jab.

Hundreds of procedures have been cancelled in recent weeks, including some urgent cancer surgeries, due to the pressure on the system.

The Health and Social Care Board said more cancellations were inevitable next week.