Coronavirus NI: 120 inpatients receiving treatment for COVID-19 in NI hospitals - 27.3% of all positive cases occurred in the last seven days

On Thursday October 1 there were 70 inpatients but that figure jumped to 120 over the seven days leading up to October 8.

The DoH also detected 923 new infections and one additional Covid-19 related death.

In the last seven days, Northern Ireland recorded 4,674 positive cases of Covid - this equates to 27.3 per cent of all infections recorded since the beginning of the pandemic in March.

The death that occurred in the last 24 hours was that of a woman aged 80 or over in the Derry City and Strabane District Council area.

There has also been a 32 per cent increase in the number of hospital admissions - in the seven days leading up to and including October 69 people with Covid were admitted to hospital - the corresponding figure for the seven days leading up to and including October 7 increased by 21 to 91.

The Northern Ireland Executive is meeting today to discuss the introduction of further restrictions.