The lowest number of Covid-19 related deaths in a week, since the end of March, has been recorded as the number of deaths have fallen for the third week in a row according to data released by the Northern Ireland Statistical Research Agency.

The figures show that there were over 200 more deaths related to Covid-19 than the Department of Health’s figures up to the same point.

The data is for week ending May 22 and it show 47 deaths in that week, bringing the total number of Covid-19 related deaths to 716 in a ten-week period. Data from NISRA includes deaths for people who did not test positive for Covid-19 but for whom the virus was mentioned on their death certificate. The comparative figure from the Department of Health, who only record deaths of people with positive Covid-19 tests, was 504.

The figures also show that there were no new Covid-19 related deaths in the Fermanagh and Omagh Council area with the figure remaining static at 16.

The data also includes, for the first time, the location of deaths for care home residents who have died from the virus and it shows that of the 380 deaths, 318 have taken place in a care home setting and 62 have occurred in hospital. 

This means that over 50 per cent of the Covid-19 deaths in Northern Ireland involve care home residents.

Over the last eight weeks in total, 902 ‘excess deaths’ (deaths above the average for the corresponding period in previous years) have been registered in Northern Ireland, In the same period 695 deaths were registered as Covid-19 related.