Northern Ireland

Record number of Covid-19 cases confirmed

<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif, Arial, Verdana, &quot;Trebuchet MS&quot;; ">In the last 24-hour reporting period, 2,397 cases were recorded</span>
In the last 24-hour reporting period, 2,397 cases were recorded

A record number of Covid-19 cases have been confirmed by the Department of Health in its daily update on the pandemic.

In the last 24-hour reporting period, 2,397 cases were recorded. The previous highest total was 2,297 on December 29 last year.

Nine further deaths of patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 have also been recorded.

It brings the total number of deaths to 2,287.

This morning, there were 388 Covid-positive patients in hospital, with 47 in intensive care, 33 of whom are on ventilators.

Hospital bed occupancy is at 101 per cent with five hospitals currently operating beyond capacity; Antrim Hospital, Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, the Royal Victoria Hospital in west Belfast, the South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen and the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald.

The seven-day infection rate in the north per 100,000 has risen to 605.2. The rate in Fermanagh and Omagh has exceeded 1,000 for the first time.

There are 134 outbreaks in care homes.

A total of 2,395,542 vaccines have been administered.