By David Young, PA
Northern Ireland has recorded its lowest weekly Covid-19 death toll since the end of August, new figures show.
There were two coronavirus deaths in the latest week subjected to analysis by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra).
It is the lowest number in a single week since the end of last summer.
The fatalities that occurred in the week May 1st-7th took the total number of coronavirus-related deaths recorded by Nisra to 2,961.
The Nisra data provides a broader picture of the impact of Covid-19 than the death toll reported by the North's Department of Health.
The total number of Covid-19 related deaths occurring between the 18 March 2020 and 7 May 2021 has now reached 2,961. DoH figures for the same period show a total of 2,147 deaths.https://t.co/EVxlymZuC0 pic.twitter.com/IDPjvIupg7
— NISRA (@NISRA) May 14, 2021
The department’s statistics focus primarily on hospital deaths and only include people who have tested positive for the virus.
Nisra obtains its data from death certificates on which Covid-19 is recorded as a factor by a medical professional, regardless of where the death took place or whether the patient tested positive.
The statistics agency reports its Covid-19 data with a week lag.
The department’s death toll stood at 2,147 on May 1st.
Of the 2,961 deaths recorded by Nisra by May 1st, 1,959 (66 per cent) occurred in hospitals, 772 (26 per cent) in care homes, 14 (0.5 per cent) in hospices and 216 (7 per cent) at residential addresses or other locations.
Nisra reported that, up to May 1st, the deaths of 1,009 care home residents were linked to Covid-19.
The figure includes the 772 deaths that occurred in care homes, and a further 237 care home residents who died in hospital having been moved there for treatment.
Care home residents make up about 34 per cent of deaths linked to Covid-19 in the North, according to Nisra.
In the week of May 1st-7th, three coronavirus-linked deaths were officially registered in Northern Ireland, some of which occurred before that week as deaths can take a number of days to register.
