Three new coronavirus deaths reported by NISRA

This brings the death toll recorded by the statistics body to 871.

The figures are based on information recorded on death certificates by medical professionals and include some people who died without having had a test for the virus.

The NISRA statistics, which come with a seven-day delay due to the time it takes for deaths to be registered, were published on Friday morning and cover the period up to August 21.

They differ from the figures published each day by the Department of Health at Stormont, who record only those deaths where someone had previously tested positive for the virus.

By August 21, the Department of Health had reported 559.

The three new deaths reported by NISRA happened during the period August 15 to 21, but were not necessarily registered during that period because it can take up to five days to produce a death certificate.

Of the 871 deaths reported by NISRA, around half (431, or 49.5%) were care home residents — 351 of whom died in the care home with the remainder having died in hospital or other locations such as a hospice.

Those aged over 75 accounted for more than two-thirds of all deaths linked with coronavirus in Northern Ireland, at 64.8%.