Six further coronavirus-related deaths have been reported in Northern Ireland on Friday.
The death toll from the Department of Health now stands at 2,444.
Four fatalities are said to have occurred during the current reporting period, and two outside of it.
A further 1,687 positive Covid cases have also been recorded in NI today.
This brings the total number of positive cases to 215,457 since the start of the pandemic, according to the Department of Health.
Over the past seven days, the Department said 10,475 individuals have tested positive in Northern Ireland.
According to figures released on Friday, there are currently 461 Covid-19 confirmed patients in hospital and 43 in intensive care.
Meanwhile, the Public Health Agency last night issued further details on how the new track and trace set-up for schools will work, saying parents will be asked to help out.
PHA contact tracers “will speak to parents or guardians of positive cases and ask for their support in identifying their child’s close contacts”, the agency said.
But how quickly the new system will be up and running remains unclear.
They said the aim of the new set-up “is to reduce the potential for large numbers of pupils being required to self-isolate and reduce the amount of time spent by schools on contact tracing”.
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