These are the countries the NI Executive is expected to include in its green list of summer holiday destinations tomorrow

The number of patients with Covid-19 in intensive care units (ICU) across Northern Ireland is the lowest it has been this year.

There are currently 85 ICU beds across Northern Ireland, of which only two are occupied by patients with Covid-19.

There are two patients requiring ventilator support also.

Fourteen people have been admitted to hospital with Covid-19 in the last seven days - the total number of hospitalisations for patients with Covid over the previous days was 19.

There has also been a significant drop in the number of inpatients with Covid-19.

In the last seven days to midnight on Tuesday there were 37 patients in hospitals across Northern Ireland with Covid-19 - for the previous seven day period there were 54 inpatients with Covid-19.

The Department of Health (DoH) also recorded an additional 107 new infections taking the total for the last seven days and since the beginning of the pandemic to 614 and 121,821 respectively.

The death toll remains unchanged at 2,152.

The Northern Ireland Executive will discuss which countries people living in Northern Ireland can visit this summer without having to quarantine when they return.

First Minister, Arlene Foster, told MLAs in the Assembly earlier this week that she was confident there would be an update on summer holiday destinations later this week.

It believed the Northern Ireland green list will be similar to the list employed by the British government recently.

The countries and territories that could be included in a green list for Northern Ireland are as follows:

Australia

Brunei

Falkland Islands

Faroe Islands

Gibraltar

Iceland

Israel and Jerusalem

Portugal (including the Azores and Madeira)

Singapore

South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands

St Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha

There is “increasing confidence” that vaccines are effective against the Indian strain of coronavirus, Boris Johnson said in a boost for efforts to keep the June 21 date for the further easing of lockdown restrictions - writes David Hughes, PA Political Editor.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Johnson said the latest data indicates the jabs are working against all variants of the virus.

The spread of the B1617.2 variant had cast doubt on next month’s plans to ease the remaining restrictions in England, but Mr Johnson has said there is no conclusive evidence to suggest a deviation from the road map.

In a further sign of optimism, the Prime Minister told MPs on Wednesday: “We’ve looked at the data again this morning and I can tell the House we have increasing confidence that vaccines are effective against all variants, including the Indian variant.”

Mr Johnson thanked people in Bolton and Blackburn – Indian variant hotspots – for “coming forward in record numbers” to receive a jab.