54 Northern Ireland deaths involving Covid-19 announced in latest weekly statistics update

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) collated the number of fatalities in the week from August 28 to September 3.

They take the total number of coronavirus-linked deaths recorded by Nisra to 3,269, higher than the 2,399 recorded by the Department of Health to the same date.

The Nisra figure is drawn from different data sources than the toll reported by Stormont’s Department of Health.

It is always higher than the department’s total, as it provides a broader picture of the impact of Covid-19.

The statistics agency reports its Covid-19 data with a week lag.

The department’s statistics focus primarily on hospital deaths and only include people who have tested positive for the virus.

The Nisra figure includes 2,204 deaths in hospital, 807 in care homes, 14 in hospices and 244 at residential addresses or other locations.

Nisra reported that, up to September 3, the deaths of 1,059 care home residents were linked to Covid-19, just over 30% of all coronavirus-related deaths.

Separate analysis, based on the date of death registration, shows that the provisional number of total deaths from all causes registered in Northern Ireland in the week ending September 3 was 340 – 41 more than in the previous week and 90 more than the five-year average (2016-2020) of 250.

Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate of 64 (18.8%) of the 340 deaths registered in the latest week analysed, an increase of 11 from the previous week, and the largest number of coronavirus-related deaths registered in one week since week ending February 19, 2021 (78).

The total number of Covid-19 related deaths registered to September 3 2021 reached 3,246.

People aged 75 and over accounted for 75.1% of the 3,246 Covid-related deaths registered between March 19 2020 and September 3 2021.

Meanwhile, across the pandemic so far, the Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon and Mid-Ulster local government districts have had higher proportions of Covid-related deaths (12.3% and 8.1% respectively) compared with their share of all deaths in Northern Ireland (10.4% and 6.5% respectively).

Ards & North Down and Fermanagh & Omagh both have relatively low shares of registered Covid-related deaths – 2.7 and 2.4 percentage points lower respectively than their share of all deaths.