Coronavirus: Number of Northern Ireland fatalities at 118 – but with a daily dip between Saturday and Sunday

Throughout the bulk of last week the daily death toll in Northern Ireland had climbed only by single-figure numbers at a time.

But then at noon on Friday there were 10 new fatalities added to the total death toll, followed by another 15 deaths the next day.

On Sunday morning, 11 new deaths were added, taking the total to 118.

In all there were 1,806 known cases in Northern Ireland.

However, authorities last week stressed that there are serious shortcomings in the recording of the figures, saying that they only cover deaths in hospitals.

They also do not distinguish between dying with Covid-19 and dying of Covid-19.

They said it could be months before a more accurate picture emerges.

The News Letter last week reported that Northern Ireland’s recorded death toll is disproportionately low compared with the UK overall, with Northern Irish Covid-19 deaths making up only about 1% of the recorded UK tally – despite Northern Ireland accounting for 2.8% of the UK’s population.

At a UK-wide level, the number of people known to have contracted the virus stood at 84,279 out of 282,374 people tested by today.

Of those hospitalised in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus, 10,621 have died as of Sunday (with a daily increase from Saturday of 737).

According to RTE tonight, there were 14 more deaths from coronavirus on Sunday, taking the death toll to 334. The government had reported 33 deaths on Saturday.

Saturday also saw Ireland’s biggest single daily jump in cases yet – 553. This was followed by 430 new cases today, according to RTE.

At a global level, Johns Hopkins medical university says 110,892 people have died to date.

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor