BREAKING: No new COVID-19 related deaths for second day running, and just one new case of the virus

By Peter Moor

No new deaths related to COVID-19 have been announced here today by the Department of Health.

The death toll linked to the virus therefore remains at 551.

This figure is lower than figures released on Friday by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)

They reported 816 COVID-19 related deaths here up to 19th June.

NISRA figures relate to information entered on death certificates, completed by medical professionals.

They may or may not have previously tested positive for the virus.

Whereas. Department of Health figures are based on mainly hospital patients having previously tested positive for the virus.

The data from the Department of Health dashboard also revealed just one more person has tested positive for the virus here.

There have now been 5,761 positive lab tests for COVID-19 in Northern Ireland.

The figures also show 26 care homes currently have confirmed outbreaks of COVID-19.

16 care homes have suspected outbreaks and 133 have closed outbreaks of the virus.

The figures also provide detail of capacity in Northern Ireland's hospitals.

It revealed that out of Northern Ireland's 93 intensive care unit beds, none are occupied by patients with COVID-19.

63 of the beds are taken up by non COVID-19 related patients, providing 30 spare ICU beds.