BREAKING: 10 new COVID-19 cases in Northern Ireland

By Peter Moor

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

Only yesterday, 119 new cases of the virus were announced - the highest daily increase since the beginning of May.

In the past seven days, the Department of Health has recorded 359 new cases of Coronavirus.

It brings the total number of infections here since the start of the pandemic to 6,776.

Today's figures come amidst an ongoing outbreak of the virus at the Cranswick Country Foods factory in Cullybackey.

The outbreak there, which has caused the factory to close for a deep clean, has led to a spike in cases in the Mid and East Antrim area.

The figures also revealed no new deaths related to the virus.

The number of fatalities remains at 559.

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The Department of Health data also showed 9 care homes here now have confirmed outbreaks of the virus, with 5 having suspected outbreaks.

180 care homes now have closed outbreaks.

The dashboard also provides information on the intensive care bed capacity throughout Northern Ireland.

Only 1 patient with COVID-19 remains in intensive care, with 70 ICU beds being occupied by other non-COVID-19 patients.

Therefore, there are now 2 ICU beds unoccupied across the region's hospitals.