THE number of weekly Coronavirus-linked deaths in the North of Ireland has risen for the first time since mid June.
The virus was mentioned on the death certificates of seven people up to Friday, July 24, according to the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra).
That is five more than the week before.
No further deaths from COVID-19 have been recorded in the Derry City and Strabane District Council area since the pandemice erupted in March.
The number of people who tragically lost their lives from Coronavirus within the council boundary remains at 29.
Using Nisra’s death certificate information-based measure, there have been 853 Covid-19 related deaths up to last Friday.
The Department of Health’s positive-test based figure for the same date was 556.
NISRA said there have been 448 deaths in hospital (52.5%).
Eighty of those people were normally resident in care homes – a figure unchanged since last week.
Taking that figure and the 349 who died in care homes, it means care home residents account for half of all COVID-19 related deaths.
Eight people have died in hospices (0.9%) and 49 at residential addresses or other locations (5.7%), both figures unchanged.
People aged 75 and over account for 80% of all Covid-19 related deaths.
The provisional number of all deaths between Friday 17 and Friday 24 July was 307 – 67 more than in the previous week and 42 more than the five-year average (265).
That five-year death rate is used to compare the number of weekly deaths that would normally be recorded at this time of year.
Nisra also recorded the number of “excess deaths” registered in the past 17 weeks as 1,040.
Its measure captures all deaths linked to Coronavirus – those involving confirmed infections which feature in the health department’s daily figures, as well as the suspected cases in which COVID-19 Is mentioned on the death certificate.
