Huge surge in cases as record broken in NI

During the period from December 24-28, there were 22,972 new infections picked up. That translates to a daily average of nearly 4,000.

Before December 21, there had never been more than 3,000 cases recorded in a single day in Northern Ireland.

There were 14 deaths recorded during the same six-day period by the Stormont department, bringing the total number of fatalities since the pandemic began to 2,976.

The number of coronavirus patients in hospital has not shown a significant increase, with a figure of 277 reported yesterday.

Meanwhile, political parties have questioned the preparations that had been put in place ahead of the surge in demand for testing.

DUP MLA Deborah Erskine, who sits on the Stormont health committee, said: “The spike in cases was well predicted by health officials including the minister but with no PCR test slots available and pharmacies running low on lateral flow kits, the question must be asked as to what preparations were made to deal with the rise in cases.”

She continued: “Just as the rise in cases was warned about, then additional kits should have been supplied to help people establish if they even needed a PCR slot.

“It is deeply disappointing that something so widely predicted has evidently not been well prepared for.”

SDLP MLA Colin McGrath also expressed concern about the availability of testing.

“We are now seeing the consequences of the Omicron surge on our testing capacity,” he said.

“People across Northern Ireland are understandably confused and anxious about the availability of tests and the steps they need to take if they develop symptoms.”

Sinn Fein’s Colm Gildernew is the chair of the Stormont health committee. He said: “This shortage must be addressed as an immediate priority.”