'Too early' to presume NI has past the peak of Covid-19 pandemic, Health Minister Robin Swann tells Health Committee

Mr Swann was speaking during this morning's meeting of the Health Committee.

He added that Chief Medical Officer for NI, Dr Michael McBride yesterday talked to his counterpart in the Republic, Dr Tony Holohan and that an update on modelling will be provided to the executive tomorrow.

It emerged during the meeting that capacity for testing Covid-19 stands at 1,700 a day - but 1,112 are being tested a day on last count

He added that testing for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland is continuing to increase as “rapidly as possible”.

Appearing before Stormont’s health committee, he said, as of Wednesday, 16,378 individuals in NI have been tested for the virus.

He said that includes 5,013 health care workers - although he said that figure could rise as health care workers were not being tested as a priority at the start of the pandemic.