Coronavirus: Over two-thirds test positive in NI care home

More than two-thirds of the people in a care home in the Belfast Trust have tested positive for coronavirus, it has been reported.

There were 12 coronavirus related deaths in the home, from 57 people. A total of 40 people tested positive for the virus.

Figures from care homes in the Belfast Trust area were reported on the Nolan Show on BBC Radio Ulster.

In another home, there were 29 positive tests from 65 people and 10 deaths due to the virus.

In another, 25 tested positive from 85 people, with 11 deaths.

Figures showing the breakdown of coronavirus outbreaks within individual care homes are not published by the Department of Health.

No care homes were named by the Nolan Show during this morning’s broadcast.

Coronavirus outbreaks have been confirmed in 71 care homes, with a further 33 suspected but not confirmed.

The latest figures available, which cover the period up to May 8, show that 269 people have died due to the virus in care homes.

Those figures, from the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, are based on information entered on death certificates.

The Department of Health said yesterday that it aims to have tested all care home residents for the virus “by next month”, with a “rolling programme” of testing for staff also due to be put in place that would see care home staff tested for coroanvirus every fortnight.