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Covid-19: Further doses of Pfizer vaccine arrive in NI

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Further doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine have arrived in Northern Ireland.

Almost 50,000 doses have now been received in total, according to the Department of Health (DoH).

The first consignment, of almost 25,000 doses, was delivered on 4 December and further deliveries are expected before the end of the year.

News of the latest delivery comes as the DoH recorded four more deaths linked to coronavirus.

The total number of coronavirus-related deaths is now 1,124.

Another 483 individuals have tested positive for Covid-19, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 58,216.

Latest figures show the hospital bed occupancy rate in NI hospitals is now 98%.

The health minister has welcomed the latest delivery of the vaccine.

Robin Swann said he wanted to pay tribute to everyone who has "worked so hard on the planning and delivery of the historic vaccination programme".

Plans are being developed to allow the vaccination of people aged 80 and over to begin.

The DoH anticipates the vaccination programme will continue until the summer of 2021.

A two-week limited lockdown ended on Thursday, but Mr Swann warned that restrictions at the start of the new year were "inevitable".

He said the severity of those restrictions would "depend on people's actions over the next few weeks".

The number of Covid-related deaths registered in Northern Ireland rose again in the latest weekly figures.

A total of 98 deaths were registered in the week up to Friday 4 December, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) - 17 more deaths than the previous week.

It brings Nisra's total of registered Covid-related deaths to 1,480 since the beginning of the pandemic.

Nisra's figures are based on mentions of the virus on death certificates, so people may or may not have previously tested positive for the virus.

By comparison, the Department of Health's daily figures are based on a positive test result having been recorded.

Meanwhile, Ireland's Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, admitted he was "concerned" that the incidence of Covid-19 was rising again in the Republic of Ireland, after 429 new caseswere reported on Sunday.

One further death was also recorded, bringing the death toll to 2,124.