Coronavirus: NI's Covid-related deaths fall for seventh week

The weekly number of Covid-related deaths registered in NI has fallen for the seventh week in a row.

The virus was mentioned on 32 deaths certificates in the week to Friday 12 March, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra).

That is one fewer than the previous week and brings its total of Covid-related registered deaths to 2,871.

The Department of Health recorded 2,098 deaths by the same date.

Nisra's figures are higher because it records mentions of the virus on death certificates, whereas the department bases its figures on a positive test result.

Figures reached a peak of 182 registered deaths in the week to 22 January.

On Nisra's measure, almost two-thirds of Covid-related deaths have happened in hospital (1,891), including the deaths of 236 care home residents.

Taking that figure, and the 764 who died in care homes, it means care home residents account for about a third (34.8%) of all Covid-related deaths.

Covid-related deaths were also recorded in hospices (0.5%) and other residential locations (7.3%).

People aged 75 and over account for more than three-quarters of all Covid-related registered deaths (76.6%) between 19 March 2020 and 12 March 2021.

Armagh City Banbridge and Craigavon (12.2%) and Mid-Ulster (8.2%) council areas have now recorded higher proportions of all Covid-related deaths, compared with their share of all deaths in Northern Ireland (10.4% and 6.4% respectively).

The provisional number of deaths from all causes for the week ending 12 March was 339.

That is 20 more than the previous week (319), and one more than the five-year average for the time of year which is 338.

On Friday, the Department of Health reported that three more people had died in Northern Ireland after testing positive for Covid-19.

The latest figures also show there has been 137 new cases of the virus confirmed in the past 24 hours.

Friday marks a year since the first Covid-19 related death was reported in Northern Ireland.

Health Minister Robin Swann said his thoughts were with all bereaved families.

The Department of Health's death toll now stands at 2,103.

A total of 166 people are currently being treated for the virus in hospitals in Northern Ireland - 16 of the patients are in intensive care, with 14 of them on ventilators.

"We are all very aware of the devastation caused by Covid-19 in the past year," said the health minister.

"We can see better days ahead in the battle against the virus, but we must never forget the pain and loss it has caused, nor can we ever overlook its capacity to inflict more suffering."

On Friday, a further 10 deaths with Covid-19 were confirmed in the Republic of Ireland, taking its death toll to 4,576.

A further 507 cases of the virus were also recorded, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 229,306.

There are currently 336 Covid-19 patients in hospitals in the Republic, of which 87 are in ICU.