ONE further death from Covid-19 was recorded in Northern Ireland yesterday, while there were six more in the Republic.
There were just two more positive cases of the virus in the north and five additional infections south of the border.
The total death toll across Ireland now stands at 2,273, while there have been more than 30,000 confirmed cases of infection.
Health minister Robin Swann announced that a group has been established "to learn from care home experiences of Covid-19" ahead of any second wave of the disease.
With care homes accounting for more than half of all deaths, it will "identify learnings that can be taken forward in the short term".
Updated guidance was also published on how hotels, pubs and other businesses in Northern Ireland can reopen safely from July 3 as lockdown restrictions are eased.
It includes advice on reconfiguring seating, ordering through apps and encouraging use of outdoor areas.
Meanwhile, calls have been made for a company which conducted tests on masks protecting staff against coronavirus to be withdrawn from further work until an investigation is complete.
UK fitting requirements were not followed by the independent contractor but any risk to users is likely to be low, the Public Health Agency (PHA) said.
It has been asked by the Department of Health to undertake a serious adverse incident review.
The contractor on some occasions inadvertently applied a fit-testing setting not normally used in Northern Ireland, the PHA said.
Doctors believe the Republic's standards designed to prevent leaks were met instead.
The PHA said this should have been readjusted to the UK's requirements.
Royal College of Nursing NI director Pat Cullen said it has asked the Department of Health to "withdraw the company involved from completing any further work until an objective, external investigation is completed".
"The RCN is extremely concerned at the revelation that some health care staff have been put at risk as a result of incorrect fitting of respiratory masks.
"We have written to the Department of Health and health care trusts urgently, demanding answers on a number of issues."
She added: "Our members will rightly be very concerned about these unfolding developments and will require support and advice on managing the levels of risk they have been exposed to."
Dr Tom Black, chairman of the British Medical Association's Northern Ireland Council, said the testing may have met standards set in the Republic, which follows the recommendations of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
He added: "At this stage we cannot quantify the risk this oversight has had on staff affected, but at the very least it has damaged confidence in the fit testing system.
"This confidence was already tested with issues over supply and quality of personal protective equipment at the start of the pandemic.
"We've also been told by some of our own members they were left with the impression they had failed fit testing only to be informed they had passed."
