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Northern Ireland could have 1,000 new Covid cases per day in a month if the current trend continues, the lead scientific advisor warned.
A further 320 cases were confirmed Tuesday, the highest daily total since the current test model was launched.
No deaths were reported, the Health Department casualty toll remains 578.
Senior Scientific Advisor Professor Ian Young said he believes the public will face this virus “for the rest of our lives” as immunity can last only a few months.
However, medical director Dr. Michael McBride said “treatments will improve” and expressed hope that after a difficult winter, the infection situation will improve by next spring.
New daily infection logs
In total, 11,269 cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in Northern Ireland since the pandemic began, but 15% of them have been recorded in the past week.
Three of the highest daily figures in the past five days have been confirmed.
Previously, the 319 cases documented on Saturday and 273 on Friday had set new records for the daily change in the number of cases.
There are currently eight patients in intensive care wards.
The Derry and Strabane District Council area had the biggest change up on Tuesday, with 72 new cases, followed by Belfast with 71.
The next highest was Newry, Morne and Down with 43 additional cases.
The latest number also shows that there are 27 active outbreaks in nursing homes.
In the Republic of Ireland, 363 new cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed and one more person has died, bringing the total death toll there to 1,803.
1000 cases per day
In a press conference aimed at journalists, Professor Ian Young said that if the current trend continues, Northern Ireland could see 1,000 new cases a day in a month.
He said that Northern Ireland has an average of 250 cases per day and that the number of Covid-19 patients in the hospital is doubling every 13 days.
In a month, he said it would equal 200 hospitalized patients with the disease.
Professor Young said that at the peak of the first wave of the coronavirus, we had around 300 Covid patients in the hospital, but he warned that we could pass that within six weeks if the actions that are being taken now do not have the desired effect.
Restrictions start to have an impact
However, Medical Director Dr. Michael McBride said: “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Dr. McBride said there was a small window of opportunity to intervene and stop the spread, adding that the restrictions imposed by the Stormont Executive are beginning to have an impact.
“We have seen some evidence of the effectiveness of those measures,” Dr. McBride said.
The number of cases in Ballymena, County Antrim, has dropped by 50% and the rate of increase in the Greater Belfast area is “slowing down”.
Ballymena and Belfast were among the first areas to be included in localized closures earlier this month, during which residents were told to restrict unnecessary home visits and travel.
Vaccine hopes
Professor Young also said at the briefing: “The Covid virus will be with us forever, for the rest of our lives.”
“We do not believe that people remain immune, we believe that natural antibodies against the virus disappear in months instead of years.”
Dr Michael McBride said: “The best we can hope for is that this is like the seasonal flu and if we are really lucky we will one day get a combined seasonal flu and Covid vaccine.”
“Our treatments will improve and we will probably need more than one vaccine, but I have no doubt that we will need a variety of different vaccines.”
