Covid in NI: 1,112 new cases and 17 further deaths recorded

A man walks down a quiet street in Belfast city centre as the six week lockdown in Northern Ireland continues. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

A further 17 people have died of coronavirus in Northern Ireland, the Department of Health confirmed.

Another 1,112 people tested positive for Covid-19 in the past 24 hours.

Two of the deaths reported occurred outside of the period.

It brings the total number of people who died of the virus to 1,460 and the total confirmed cases to 88,700 since the pandemic began.

Northern Ireland’s health system is under severe pressure – hospitals are almost at full capacity and cancer surgery procedures are among the operations cancelled in Belfast.

There are now 703 people with the virus in hospitals across the region and 53 in ICUs.

Hospital occupancy is at 94%. There are 15 ICU beds available.

The region’s seven-day incidence rate per 100,000 of the population now stands at 556.

Newry, Mourne and Down had the highest rate at 801 per 100,000 population, followed by Mid Ulster at 751 and Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon at 722.

In the past seven days 10,468 people tested positive.

New lockdown restrictions preventing people from leaving home except for essential reasons came into effect on Friday.

People can be ordered to return to their homes by police as part of measures.

The strict rules will remain in place until February 6 but will be reviewed later this month.

In England, a further 508 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 55,580, NHS England said on Sunday.

The deaths were between December 17 and January 9.

There were 25 other deaths reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.