BREAKING: 8 further COVID-19 related deaths and 493 new cases

By Peter Moor

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

There has now been 724 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 979 people had died in connection with COVID-19 - 37 up to the end of the previous week.

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

493 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 4,949 new cases of Coronavirus.

It brings the total number of infections here since the start of the pandemic to 39,609.

379 people with COVID-19 are in hospitals across Northern Ireland with 52 of these being in intensive care beds, 42 being on ventilators.

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

Therefore, there are now 52 ICU beds unoccupied across the region's hospitals.

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The Department of Health data also showed 120 care homes here now have confirmed outbreaks of the virus, with 12 having suspected outbreaks.

236 care homes now have closed outbreaks.