Northern Ireland

Covid-19: 11 further deaths and 504 new cases

Another 11 people have died after contracting Covid-19 (Peter Byrne/PA)
Another 11 people have died after contracting Covid-19 (Peter Byrne/PA) Another 11 people have died after contracting Covid-19 (Peter Byrne/PA)

A further 11 people with Covid-19 have died, the Department of Health has confirmed.

Another 504 positive cases of the virus were also notified today.

There are 701 Covid positive inpatients in hospital, 65 of whom are in intensive care with 60 of these patients on ventilators.

The average seven-day infection rate per 100,000 is 180.9. Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon council has the highest rate with 304.7 while the lowest remains Derry & Strabane on 96.9.

There are 106 outbreaks in care homes.

A further 94 deaths linked to Covid-19 have been recorded in the Republic of Ireland, along with 1,013 new cases of the virus.

The Department of Health said 47 of the deaths recorded today occurred in February, 44 occurred in January, two in December and one in November.

The median age of those who died is 82 years and the age range is 36-100 years.

To date there has been a total of 3,512 coronavirus related deaths in Ireland.

Yesterday the British government said it is working with vaccine firms on tackling coronavirus variants as scientists expressed concern that the strain identified in Kent has mutated.

Experts said some samples of the Kent variant are now showing the E484K mutation, which has been shown to reduce the effectiveness of vaccines in preventing people contracting Covid-19.

The news came as the Republic recorded its highest number of deaths in a single day since the pandemic began.