BREAKING: 12 further COVID-19 deaths in Northern Ireland and 487 new cases of the virus

By Peter Moor

12 more people have died in Northern Ireland having contracted COVID-19 according to the Department of Health.

There has now been 901 COVID-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland according to the Department.

This number mainly covers hospital related deaths unlike the figures released by NISRA on Friday which said 1,141 people had died in connection with COVID-19.

NISRA uses information based on death certificates whereas the Department of Health only records people who die after testing positive for the virus.

487 new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in Northern Ireland in the past 24 hours.

In the past seven days, the Department of Health has recorded 3,401 new cases of Coronavirus.

It brings the total number of infections here since the start of the pandemic to 48,716 infections,

456 people with COVID-19 are in hospitals across Northern Ireland with 41 of these being in intensive care beds, 32 being on ventilators.

64 ICU beds are being occupied by other non-COVID-19 patients.

Therefore, there are now 31 ICU beds unoccupied across the region's hospitals.

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The Department of Health data also showed 166 care homes here now have confirmed outbreaks of the virus, with 3 having suspected outbreaks.

270 care homes now have closed outbreaks.