Northern Ireland

Four more deaths linked to Covid-19 as 1,078 further cases confirmed

<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: sans-serif, Arial, Verdana, &quot;Trebuchet MS&quot;; ">Another 1,078 cases of coronavirus were reported today</span>
Another 1,078 cases of coronavirus were reported today Another 1,078 cases of coronavirus were reported today

Another four people have died after contracting Covid-19, figures from the Department of Health have revealed.

It brings the total number of deaths recorded since the start of the pandemic to 2,552.

Another 1,078 cases of coronavirus were reported today, compared to 903 yesterday.

This morning there were 362 patients with Covid-19 in hospitals, up from 345 yesterday.

The number of patients with Covid-19 in intensive care units this morning was 27, down from 28 yesterday.

Of these patients, 24 are on ventilators, down one from 25 yesterday.

The north's hospitals are over capacity by 122 beds, up from 28 yesterday.

There are currently 80 confirmed outbreaks in care homes.

Today's figures were released as Health Minister Robin Swann said he wants a domestic vaccine certification scheme in place "as soon as necessary".

Mr Swann said it was "regrettable" that the Executive has yet to agree a policy position on so-called vaccine passports.

Yesterday, Stormont ministers agreed a plan to drop the one metre social distancing requirement across a range of venues, but decided that plans to require vaccination passports for entry to the indoor seated venues would be advisory only.

At the meeting, SDLP Minister Nichola Mallon proposed Covid vaccine passports for those venues be introduced by regulation but was blocked in the Executive vote.

Meanwhile, there have been an additional 1,499 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland. This morning 300 patients were in hospital with the disease, with 63 in intensive care.