Latest Covid-19 figures covering the Christmas period from the Department of Health make shocking reading with 2,145 people testing positive for Covid-19 in the Fermanagh and Omagh District in the past seven days (December 22-28).

In comparison from December 15-21 there were 955 positive cases. 

Those 2,145 cases come from a total of 8,762 tests conducted in the district in seven days. The seven day per 100,000 rate in Fermanagh and Omagh is the second highest in Northern Ireland and currently stands at 1,827.1.

Breaking down the cases by age; 362 cases were detected in those aged 0-19, 1,213 in those aged 20-39, 433 in those aged 40-59, 123 in those aged 60-79 and 14 cases in those aged 80 and over.

For the period between December 23-28 there were 1,671 positive cases of the virus in the district. For the same time in Northern Ireland there were 22,972 cases.

For the same period there were 14 coronavirus related deaths recorded in Northern Ireland, nine of these deaths occurred outside of the reporting period. Since the pandemic began, 132 deaths related to coronavirus had occurred in the Fermanagh and Omagh District.

A different time scale is used to monitor postcodes and for the period from 20-26 December Fermanagh postcode statistics are as follows; In BT74, there were 236 cases detected, BT92 there were 230 cases detected, BT93 there were 125 cases, and in BT94 there were 156 cases.

There are currently 14 inpatients in South West Acute Hospital (SWAH) with Covid-19 with one Covid-19 patient in ICU. The SWAH is operating at 0.58 per cent over capacity.

Despite the emergence of a new variant, hospitalisations have not risen and continue to fall slightly in Northern Ireland at this stage.