Five more deaths have been linked to Covid-19 in the latest NISRA bulletin.
The people who passed away bring to 901 the total number of ‘Covid-19 related deaths’, according to the Statistics Agency.
The latest figures relates to deaths that occurred in the week September 19-25.
The comparable total number of deaths for the same period according to the Department of Health, which only includes people who had a positive test for the virus, is 578.
The difference between the two sets of figures is 323. NISRA stat’s include deaths “based on the information entered on death certificates”.
The Agency says that of 437 deaths of care home residents involving Covid-19 in the year to date September 25, 81.5% (356) occurred in a care home, with the remaining 81 occurring in hospital. On this basis, NISRA says, deaths of care home residents account for 48.5% of all Covid-19 related deaths.
Regarding ‘excess deaths’, NISRA says the “provisional number of total deaths from all causes registered in Northern Ireland in the week ending 25th September 2020 (week 38) was 323, one more than in week 37 and 35 more than the 5-year average of 288”.
Over the last 26 weeks there have been 1,216 ‘excess deaths’, they added.
Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate of nine of the 323 deaths registered in week 38. The difference between the figure of nine and the five above is down to lag in processing paperwork, it is understood.
People aged 75 and over accounted for two-thirds (64.5%) of all deaths and 79.0% of Covid‑19 related deaths registered this calendar year up to September 25, NISRA added.
For Covid-19 related deaths, those with an address in Belfast Local Government District (LGD) accounted for 254 (28.2%) of the 900 deaths registered in the calendar year to September 25.
