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Another 777 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in the state, 182 of them in Dublin and seven more deaths from the disease.
The latest figures bring the total number of Covid-19-related deaths in the state to 1,878, while the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases here now stands at 55,261.
Confirming the latest figures on Friday night, the National Public Health Emergency Team (Nphet) said that of the seven reported deaths, all occurred in October.
Eight and one of the most recent cases occurred in Co Galway, 44 in Co Wexford, 42 in Co Meath and 41 in Co Cork, and the remaining 387 cases were distributed in the remaining 21 counties.
Nphet said that as of 2 p.m. Friday, 319 Covid-19 patients are hospitalized, of which 37 are in the ICU, while there have been an additional 24 hospitalizations as a result of the illness in the past 24 hours.
Dr. Tony Holohan, Medical Director of the Department of Health, said: “I call on everyone to behave as if you are a close contact. Stay home, except for essential reasons. Now is the time to use our energy reserves and deepen our efforts to follow public health advice: keep your distance, wash your hands, and wear a face covering. Do your part to break the chains of transmission between families, neighbors and communities. “
Northern schools
Meanwhile, the coronavirus has been identified in half of all Northern Ireland schools since the beginning of the quarter, according to the Northern Public Health Agency (PHA).
Data released by the PHA showed there were 2,030 confirmed cases of Covid 19 in schools between their reopening on August 24 and October 18, when schools closed for an extended two-week half-term holiday.
In total, 608 Covid 19 incidents involving 519 schools were reported, the PHA said.
Almost 40% of those incidents were groups of between two and five cases, and 11% were groups of five or more.
Of the 1,789 school cases for which a breakdown by student / staff was available, 1,218 cases, or 68%, were students. This equates to 0.37% of school-age children in Northern Ireland.
There were 390 cases among primary school children, 803 among post-primary education students, and 25 among special school students.
Five more deaths
The Northern Health Department reported five more coronavirus-related deaths on Friday, bringing the total number of deaths to 639. 1,252 more cases of the virus were identified.
Since the start of the pandemic, 32,286 cases of the virus have been confirmed in the North, 6,893 of them in the last seven days.
Almost 300 people with Covid-19 were being treated in hospitals in Northern Ireland on Friday, and 34 in intensive care.
Northern Health Minister Robin Swann apologized to patients and said he was “deeply disturbed” after some cancer procedures were postponed due to Covid-19 pressure on the health service.
The Belfast Trust also apologized after 106 planned surgeries and visors were canceled.
The minister said he was seeking assurances that operations would be rescheduled as soon as possible.
“The more seriously ill Covid patients there are, the less staff capacity we have in the system for non-Covid services,” Swann said. “This is the terrible reality in which we find ourselves.”
Health and welfare trusts in Northern Ireland have warned that they are now seeing the fallout from the surge in cases that led to stricter restrictions being introduced across the North a week ago.
The Southern Trust has advised people to slow down while driving and to avoid doing housework that could lead to injury due to the “extreme pressures” their hospitals experience.
“Currently, our hospitals are rightly preparing for the latest coronavirus surge and we will not have the resources to provide our normal high level of service within orthopedics,” said consultant Dr. Ronan McKeown.
“If people are injured, we may not be able to provide the surgery they need at this time, which unfortunately can have long-term health consequences for those people.”
Stormont Sinn Féin MLA Health Committee Chair Colm Gildernew said it was “unacceptable” that patients were not receiving the urgent care they needed.
“Patients need certainty and assurances that their procedures will continue, they should not feel anxious and worried,” he said.
“The minister must implement immediate plans to ensure that cancer patients receive the emergency care and treatment they need.”
Armed forces
The vice president of the DUP MLA committee Pam Cameron said that the North Executive should consider summoning the armed forces to alleviate the strain on health personnel.
Separate data released on Friday by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) recorded 27 coronavirus-related deaths in the week ending Oct. 16, compared with seven the previous week.
It puts the death toll recorded by Nisra at 942, more than a third higher than the total of 610 deaths reported by the Northern Department of Health (DoH) during the same period.
Nisra’s figures are higher than those recorded in the department’s published daily statistics, which focus primarily on hospital deaths and include only people who tested positive for Covid-19.
Nisra includes all deaths in which the coronavirus is mentioned on the death certificate, and the person may or may not have tested positive for the virus.
Covid-19 was included in the death certificates of 441 nursing home residents, or 47 percent of all coronavirus-related deaths, Nisra said.
Over the past 29 weeks, almost 1,300 “excess deaths” have been recorded in Northern Ireland, deaths above the average for the corresponding period in previous years.
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