A glimmer of hope emerged today in news around Covid-19 in Northern Ireland, with no further deaths reported in the last 24 hours by the Department of Health.
Sunday's updated figures showed the death toll remained static, with one person succumbing to the virus over the weekend.
A total of 2,098 Covid 19 fatalities have been recorded to date by the DoH.
Sunday's latest dashboard figures reported a total of 143 people had tested positive, a reduction of three on yesterday's figures, bringing the number cases of Covid-19 detected in last seven days to 1,311 - up 11 on the previous seven days.
The number of people being treated in one of 27 hospital has increased by two in the last 24 hours, while the number of patients in ICU, and those being ventilated, has remained the same. It means:
- 149 Covid patients are being treated in hospital
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23 Covid patients are being treated in intensive care
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18 Covid patients are being ventilated
A total of 1,739,645 tests have been carried out by the HCS labs and the National Initiative to date, with 851,174 people tested.
And Sunday's dashboard update states the total number of positive cases now sits at 114,896 since the start of the pandemic.
The previous seven days saw the deaths of 19 people, the same as the previous seven days.
But hospital adissions have dropped, with 70 admissions in the last seven days as compared to 100 in the previous seven.
The update comes hours after Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill sought to reassure the public that they will be kept informed of any developments after calls for the AstraZeneca vaccine to be suspended in the Republic of Ireland.
The call came from Ireland’s deputy chief medical officer, Dr Ronan Glynn, after four new reports of blood clotting in Norway.
Dr Glynn said: “This recommendation has been made following a report from the Norwegian Medicines Agency of four new reports of serious blood clotting events in adults after vaccination with Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca.
“It has not been concluded that there is any link between the Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca and these cases.
“However, acting on the precautionary principle, and pending receipt of further information, the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) has recommended the temporary deferral of the Covid-19 vaccine AstraZeneca vaccination programme in Ireland.”
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