Covid-19 death toll among care home residents in Northern Ireland reaches 1,000

The department’s statistics focus primarily on hospital deaths and only include people who have tested positive for the virus.

The Covid-19 death toll among care home residents in Northern Ireland has reached 1,000.

Statistics from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) show that up to the week ending March 12, 764 coronavirus linked deaths had occurred in care homes, while 236 residents had died in hospital having been moved there for treatment.

Care home residents make up about 35% of deaths linked to Covid-19 in Northern Ireland according to Nisra.

The data provides a broader picture of the impact of Covid-19 than the death toll reported by Stormont’s Department of Health.

The department’s statistics focus primarily on hospital deaths and only include people who have tested positive for the virus.

Nisra obtains its data from death certificates on which Covid-19 is recorded as a factor by a medical professional, regardless of where the death took place or whether the patient tested positive.

The statistics agency reports its Covid-19 data with a week lag.

It indicates that 30 Covid-19-linked deaths occurred in the week March 6-12.

The total number of coronavirus-related deaths in Northern Ireland reported by the agency up to March 12 stood at 2,877.

The department’s total stood at 2,098 on March 12.

Of the 2,877 deaths recorded by Nisra by March 12, 1,891 (66%) occurred in hospitals, 764 (27%) in care homes, 14 (0.5%) in hospices and 208 (7%) at residential addresses or other locations.

In the week of March 6-12, 32 coronavirus-linked deaths were officially registered in Northern Ireland, some of which occurred before that week as deaths can take a number of days to register.