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Nine more deaths from coronavirus have been recorded in Northern Ireland, eight of them occurred in the past 24 hours.
The official death toll from the Health Department stands at 697.
There are also 566 new test cases on 2,930 people.
There are 354 confirmed Covid-19 patients in the hospital, with 43 in intensive care units, 38 of whom are on ventilators.
The seven-day infection rate per 100,000 in Northern Ireland is 288.2.
The highest rate, 457.6, is in the Mid Ulster council area, followed by Derry and Strabane at 390.0, then Belfast at 385.4.
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Meanwhile, Northern Ireland’s weekly death toll from Covid-19 has risen for the second week in a row.
There were 37 Covid-19-related deaths recorded by the Northern Ireland Research and Statistics Agency (Nisra), up from 27 the previous week.
The Nisra, which reports with a one-week delay, put the death toll at the end of last week at 979.
The 37 deaths occurred in the week 17-23 October.
The total comparative number of deaths reported daily by the Health Department was 643 on October 23.
The Nisra data provides a more complete picture of Covid-19 deaths than the figures released by the department.
The department’s statistics focus primarily on hospital deaths and only include people who have tested positive for the virus.
Nisra obtains its data from death certificates in which a medical professional records Covid-19 as a factor, regardless of where the death occurred.
The person may or may not have tested positive for the virus.
Of the 979 deaths registered by Nisra as of October 23, 547 (55.9%) occurred in hospitals, 363 (37.1%) in residences, eight (0.8%) in hospices and 61 (6.2%) in residential homes or other places.
The 371 deaths that occurred in nursing homes and hospices involved 88 separate facilities.
Nisra also looks at the total number of nursing home residents who have died, either at home or in hospital, after being transferred for treatment.
As of October 23, the deaths of 451 nursing home residents were related to Covid-19, 88 of which occurred in the hospital.
Nursing home residents account for approximately 46.1% of all Covid-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate of 42 (10.7%) of the 391 deaths recorded in week 42.
This is 25 more than the previous week and brings the total number of Covid-19 related deaths recorded in the calendar year to October 23 to 972.
Additional reporting PA
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