There have been nine further deaths of people who have contracted coronavirus, Health Minister Robin Swann has said.
It brings the total deaths in the north recorded so far by the Department of Health to 347.
Speaking at today's daily update from Stormont on the pandemic, Mr Swann said there would be no Big Bang-style easing of lockdown restrictions.
He said: "Social distancing will be part of our lives in some form for months to come, maybe even years."
The minister added: "Decisions cannot be rushed.
"It will have to be taken in line with the best expert advice."
Stormont chief scientific adviser Professor Ian Young said the country had passed the peak number of cases, hospital admissions and ICU bed occupancy.
He warned the fall in the number of cases had been very slow.
Each person with Covid-19 infects 0.8 to 0.9, just under a person.
Prof Young added: "It is now clear that while cases are falling, they are falling very slowly indeed."
He said they were on a "knife edge" to maintain the number of cases of spread below one.
Mr Swann said the spread of Covid-19 so far across the community "has not been as serious as we first feared".
Mr Swann said he wanted to give reassurance that testing is growing, and will continue to "as rapidly as possible".
He said that yesterday 2,243 tests were carried out or completed, the "highest daily number".
The Department of Health confirmed there were 73 new positive cases.
"At the start of this pandemic, the HSC laboratory service had capacity of around 40 tests per day," he said.
"The latest number of tests carried out that will be officially reported later today are 1,419 in our local labs, and a further 824 as part of the national testing programme at the three local testing sites.
"That means yesterday we carried out or completed a total of 2,243 tests, our highest daily number to date."
Giving a statement to the assembly's Ad Hoc Committee on the Covid-19 Response, Mr Swann warned against complacency.
"That does not mean the warnings were misplaced, it means the warnings were taken seriously and people stayed at home," he said.
"Northern Ireland remains on a knife edge."
Turning to the continuation of the lockdown, Mr Swann said there are no easy decisions.
"The time will come for a discussion on what comes next and we have to face this together honestly and openly," he said.
"There will not be any easy decisions because we recognise that simply maintaining the current lockdown indefinitely could have serious repercussions for many people's mental and physical wellbeing.
"We will all have to weigh up our options very carefully, working closely with colleagues across these islands to ensure that we take the right decisions at the right time."
Earlier today, Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon said discussion by ministers of any potential relaxation of lockdown rules to prevent the spread of Covid-19 should be held at Executive meetings
Ms Mallon was speaking after agriculture minister Edwin Poots suggested churches and garden centres could reopen with social distancing measures.
