Another 21 people die after contracting Covid19 in Northern Ireland

By Q Radio News

Twenty-one more people with Covid-19 have died in Northern Ireland, the Department of Health has said.

There have also been 787 new confirmed cases of the virus in the last 24-hour reporting period.

Meanwhile the latest figures published today by NISRA show that 70 deaths involving Covid-19 occurred in the last week, from 12th to18th December, and the total Covid-19 related deaths figure has now reached 1,674.

Of this total, 1,002 (59.9%) deaths took place in hospital, 553 (33.0%) in care homes, nine (0.5%) in hospices and 110 (6.6%) at residential addresses or other locations. The 562 deaths which occurred in care homes and hospices involved 130 separate establishments.

It comes as two cases of a new, "more transmissible" COVID-19 variant linked to South Africa have been identified in the UK.

Both cases are contacts of people who travelled from South Africa over the last few weeks, Matt Hancock said in a Downing Street news conference.

Those with the new variant, and contacts of them, are quarantining.

It is thought the South African strain may be behind a record number of people being hospitalised in the country with COVID-19.

Dr Susan Hopkins, from Public Health England, said the new variant recently discovered in the UK, and the one found in South Africa, are "very different" and are "different mutations".

"Both of them look like they're more transmissible," she added.

Dr Hopkins told the Number 10 press conference: "We have more evidence on the transmission for the UK variant, because we've been studying that with great detail with academic partners.

"We're still learning about the South African variant. We are pretty confident that the system we have in place will help control the spread."

Mr Hancock said: "This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK."

The new strain is "shortly to be analysed at Porton Down", Mr Hancock said.

There are immediate restrictions on travelling from South Africa.

In addition, people who have been in contact with anyone who has been in South Africa in the last fortnight have been told they must quarantine.

The health secretary said the government is "incredibly grateful to the South African government for the rigour of their science and the openness and the transparency with which they have rightly acted as we did when we discovered a new variant here".