Nine further Covid-19 deaths have been recorded in Northern Ireland

By Q Radio News

Nine further deaths of people who had tested positive for Covid-19 have been reported in Northern Ireland.

The Department of Health said there have also been 1,320 new confirmed cases of the virus in the last 24-hour reporting period.

As of this morning there are 352 Covid-positive patients in hospital, of whom 43 are in intensive care.

NI #COVID19 data has been updated:

📊 1,320 positive cases and sadly 9 deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours.

💉2,414,189 vaccines administered in total.

Dashboard➡️https://t.co/YN16dmGzhv
Vaccines➡️https://t.co/Yfa0hHVmRL pic.twitter.com/jX92fJVvSQ

— Department of Health (@healthdpt) August 23, 2021

Over the past seven days, the Department of Health said 11,944 individuals have tested positive in Northern Ireland.

The figures come after it emerged that Northern Ireland is seeing its highest rates of infection since January.

Fermanagh & Omagh in the south-west of Northern Ireland also has the highest rate of any local authority in the UK, with a total of 1,003.9 cases per 100,000 people recorded in the seven days to August 18.

This is the first time that any local authority in Northern Ireland has recorded rates over 1,000 since comparable records began in summer 2020, when mass testing was first introduced.

The figures show how the third wave of coronavirus, which began in the UK at the end of May of this year, is once again on the rise after a period last month when it appeared cases may have peaked.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health has said that provisional figures show that 12,194 first doses of the Covid-19 vaccine were delivered in Northern Ireland on Saturday and Sunday during the Big Jab Weekend.