Coronavirus NI: ‘Shocking and frightening’- huge increase in new infections in NI as 934 are recorded in 24 hours

There was also one additional death recorded taking the death toll to 582.

The highest number of cases reported in a 24 hour period before today came yesterday when 320 infection were recorded between 10am on Wednesday and 10am on Thursday.

This figure was dwarfed earlier today when the Department of Health (DoH) reported 934 new COVID-19 infections were identified in Northern Ireland in the last 24 hours.

The local government districts with the highest number of new cases are Derry City and Strabane - 201; Belfast City Council - 191; Newry 182 and Mid-Ulster - 86.

“That’s a shocking and more so frightening figure, particularly for our elderly and vulnerable population,” said DUP Belfast City Councillor, Dale Pankhurst.

“We all need to look after each other and follow the public health guidance,” he added.

The huge spike now means 2,623 individuals have tested positive for COVID-19 in the last seven days.

To put this in context, the number of people to test positive in the previous seven days this time last week was 1,236.

The total number of people to test positive for the deadly virus since the beginning of the pandemic is now 12,886.

One positive to emerge from today’s stats is that there are five fewer patients in hospital with COVID-19 than there was yesterday.