No new COVID-19 related deaths for eighth day running and 2 new cases

By Peter Moor

For the eighth day running, no new deaths related to COVID-19 has been announced here by the Department of Health.

The death toll linked to the virus therefore remains at 556.

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

They reported 844 COVID-19 related deaths here up to 10th July.

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 2 more people have tested positive for the virus here, since yesterday.

There have now been 5,859 positive lab tests for COVID-19 in Northern Ireland.

The figures also show 9 care homes currently have confirmed outbreaks of COVID-19.

15 care homes have suspected outbreaks and 156 homes 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 99 intensive care unit beds, two are now occupied by a patient with COVID-19.

68 of the beds are taken up by non COVID-19 related patients, providing 29 spare ICU beds.