Northern Ireland

No new Covid deaths on either side of border

There were no new Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland
There were no new Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland There were no new Covid-19 related deaths in Ireland

THERE were no Covid-linked deaths reported on either side of the border on Monday.

In Northern Ireland, 97 new infections were recorded following tests on 4,290 people.

There were 84 people in hospitals with coronavirus, eight of which were in intensive care, with six being ventilated.

The total number of confirmed Covid cases during the pandemic stands at 118,364, with 2,129 deaths.

The latest figures were announced as the de-escalation of the Nightingale facility in Belfast was completed.

At the peak of the latest Covid-19 surge, the City Hospital facility was expanded to care for up to 32 seriously ill patients.

The Belfast Health Trust has described the de-escalation of the facility as "significant".

The Nightingale was reopened in October due to Covid pressures.

The south Belfast hospital's tower block was originally turned into a 230-bed unit for critically-ill patients in April 2020, but then stood down the following month.

Coronavirus patients will now be cared for at the city's Mater Hospital.

Authorities in the Republic, meanwhile, said there had been 394 new cases of Covid-19.

The number of people with coronavirus in intensive care was 50, three fewer than Sunday and the lowest since the beginning of the year.

There has been a total of 4,785 Covid-linked deaths and the cumulative number of cases is 241,330.