BREAKING: 2 more COVID-19 related deaths and 71 new cases of virus in Northern Ireland

By Peter Moor

Two more people have died having contracted Coronavirus in Northern Ireland according to the Department of Health.

One of these happened since 10am yesterday, and the other happened before then.

There's now been 562 COVID-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland according to the Department.

This number mainly covers hospital related deaths unlike the figures released by NISRA on Friday which said 871 people had died in connection with COVID-19.

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

Meanwhile, 71 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 463 new cases of Coronavirus.

It brings the total number of infections here since the start of the pandemic to 7,365.

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The Department of Health data also showed 18 care homes here now have confirmed outbreaks of the virus, with 6 having suspected outbreaks.

180 care homes now have closed outbreaks.

The dashboard also provides information on the intensive care bed capacity throughout Northern Ireland.

3 patients with COVID-19 are now in intensive care, with 81 CU beds being occupied by other non-COVID-19 patients.

Therefore, there are now 13 ICU beds unoccupied across the region's hospitals.