Deaths following a positive Covid-19 test are on the rise across Northern Ireland (NI), showing that despite society being reopened, Covid-19 is still continuing to grip communities.

In the most recent reporting period for the week ending July 1, figures from NISRA show that there were 20 deaths involving Covid-19.

In the previous week, ending June 24, NISRA’S figures showed there were six such deaths across NI – a rise of 14 deaths in a week.

Other recently released data shows that Covid-19 is still impacting our hospitals, and this can be seen through a look at hospitalisation stats provided by the Department of Health (DoH).

The stark statistics underscore the amount of people seriously ill with Covid-19 in the Western Health and Social Care Trust (Western Trust) area, with 67 Covid in-patients in Western Trust hospitals this July.

The figure of 67 patients is a stark contrast to the seven patients in hospital one year ago, in July, 2021, versus two such patients in July, 2020. However, the previous years’ figures were affected by restrictions on gatherings and mask wearing at the time.

Notably, the graph does not show a significant downward trend in the summer months for the amount of Covid-19-positive patients in Western Trust hospitals, as had been the case noted in previous years.

The data from the Department also shows there were 29 in-patients due to Covid at the South West Acute Hospital on Thursday, July 7.

‘Absence reporting’

The Impartial Reporter queried the number of staff absent as a result of Covid-19. In response, a Western Trust spokesperson said: “We are currently reinstating arrangements for manual recording of Covid-19 [affected] staff absences to supplement our normal absence reporting, but are not yet in a position to provide this information.”

As for Covid-19 in the community, the DoH is providing weekly reports, but advises readers of these reports to “interpret the data with caution”.

A spokesperson for the Department said: “Due to the relatively small number of tests and positive swab results within our sample, credible intervals are wide, and therefore results should be interpreted with caution.”

The data from the DoH found that between June 23 and 29, 98,400 people in NI had Covid-19, equating to 5.36 per cent of the population, or approximately 1 in 19 people.

Guidance following a positive Covid-19 test is to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for five days after the day of the positive test, or from the day symptoms started, whichever was earlier.

Guidance recommends a three-day isolation period for children and young people aged under 18.

According to the DoH website, testing to end isolation is no longer advised. Many people would be familiar with this practice as it involved taking a lateral flow test (LFT) until you had two negative LFTs in a row.