Covid-19: Is Northern Ireland winning the battle against the virus?

The coronavirus pandemic has brought with it a great deal of interest in statistics and figures that can be used to try to understand what is going on with the virus.

While the numbers may not reflect the true human cost of the pandemic, they can give us an idea of ​​how we are doing in our battle against Covid-19.

On Saturday, the Health Department announced 22 deaths related to Covid-19 and another 705 cases of the virus.

There are 62 Covid patients in intensive care, 45 of whom are ventilated.

The authorities in Northern Ireland count deaths in different ways.

The Health Department counts the number of people who die within 28 days of having a positive Covid test. This is posted daily on the department board.

The Northern Ireland Statistical and Research Agency (Nisra) counts the number of death certificates that mention Covid-19, regardless of whether that person had a test for the virus. It is usually published on Friday mornings.

This means that the two numbers will always be different. Both numbers are helpful in assessing the impact of the virus in Northern Ireland.

But there are other ways to measure the death toll rather than just gross numbers.

One is the seven-day average death rate from the Health Department. This is a good indicator of whether the death rate is increasing or decreasing.

During the first wave of the pandemic, this moving average peaked at 14 between April 22 and 24, 2020.

This time, that number was dwarfed, peaking at 18 between January 10-11, but now it appears to be dropping.

The moving average indicates trends over time, and now shows that Northern Ireland is going through a longer and more difficult peak compared to the first wave.

Another way to interpret the statistics on the Covid death rate is to look at how many people have died compared to the population. And this is often expressed as deaths per 100,000 people.

Using information from health departments,

However, this measure (like most others) has its flaws: It does not take into account social differences such as the age, health and wealth of a population, all of which can influence the final impact of Covid.

So, let’s look at another way to look at Covid death rates: by comparing the number of deaths to the number of positive cases, during the course of the pandemic.

This gives us a rate that is much easier to visualize and gives us some indication of the results for those who have had the virus.

And it begins to show a clear difference between the island of Ireland and Great Britain.

In Northern Ireland, out of every 60 positive Covid cases, we can expect one person to die.

In the Republic of Ireland, the equivalent rate is one death for every 65 positive cases.

However, England, Scotland and Wales have considerably worse rates in comparison. In fact, the equivalent rate for Scotland is one in 30 positive cases, twice the rate seen in Northern Ireland.

The speed at which the infection is spreading is another indicator of how we are doing against the coronavirus.

The Department of Health publishes detailed figures on the infection rate. The BBC’s data unit also collects and analyzes figures from across the UK.

Both data sets are calculated to give an infection rate per 100,000 inhabitants over the course of a week.

Gone are the days when

Areas in Northern Ireland had some of the worst infection rates in the UK.

But that does not mean that Northern Ireland’s infection rate is low. It is not. It’s just that some places in England have much higher rates.

The figures suggest that the infection rate in Northern Ireland is starting to decline after a poor start to the year.

Recent areas of concern have been South Armagh and South Down.

According to the BBC’s figures for the week to January 10, the Newry, Morne and Down municipal area had the highest infection rate in Northern Ireland, with 750 cases per 100,000 people.

The infection rates published by the Department of Health allow analysis by zip code and indicate that the southern Armagh areas have the highest infection rate.

Comparing these rates with the Republic of Ireland is not straightforward. The Republic calculates its infection rates in a different period of time.

That said, everything indicates that border areas, both north and south, have high infection rates.

There have been more people in Northern Ireland hospitals who suffered from Covid in January than at any other time during the pandemic.

And the difference is marked.

At the peak of the first wave, there were 354 people in the hospital with Covid-19 on April 8, 2020.

This has fallen short in the new year, with a peak of 933 inpatients in Northern Ireland hospitals on January 10.

However, ICU beds are not under the same pressure as before.

Of the 833 people in the Northern Ireland hospital with Covid, 63 are in intensive care.

While this is positive, hospitals are currently operating at an occupancy rate of 97%, and this figure has occasionally exceeded 100%.

The Northern Ireland vaccination program has been a benchmark, not just in the UK, or even in Europe, but around the world.

The UK was one of the first countries to start vaccinating and has a good track record to date for the speed at which vaccines are implemented.

And Northern Ireland has been the fastest of all parts of the UK.

So far, more than 110,000 people have been vaccinated, almost 6% of the total population.

Almost 20,000 of them have received their second dose.

The Republic of Ireland has managed to vaccinate almost 2% of the population, although it is obviously lower than Northern Ireland, it is still one of the best vaccination rates in Europe.

Read more: What is Northern Ireland’s Covid-19 Vaccination Plan?