Coronavirus NI: 29 more people test positive for virus - Health Minister Robin Swann warns we are ‘probably’ at ‘the most dangerous or riskiest points of the pandemic’ - find out where the latest cases were diagnosed

Forty-eight new cases of Covid-19 diagnosed in NI on Monday.

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This is where the latest cases were diagnosed in the last 24 hours:

Antrim and Newtownabbey - 3

Ards and north Down - 0

Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon - 1

Belfast - 5

Causeway Coast and Glens - 7

Derry and Strabane - 0

Fermanagh and Omagh - 1

Lisburn and Castlereagh - 6

Mid and East Antrim - 3

Mid-Ulster - 0

Newry, Mourne and Down - 3

This week - in the last seven days - 204 people in NI have tested positive for the virus.

In total 6,217 people have tested positive in Northern Ireland.

According to the latest report there have been no deaths in the last 24 hours, leaving the death toll here at 557.

As of today there are two people fighting coronavirus in ICU hospitals in Northern Ireland.

There are now two confirmed COVID-19 outbreaks in NI nursing homes - and eight suspected COVID-19 cases.

Earlier Health Minister Robin Swann has the BBC that NI is now at “probably the most dangerous or riskiest “points of the pandemic.

Mr Swann said the progress made since March should not “be taken as a sign that Covid-19 is over or finished”.

He said: “If we get this wrong now, if we don’t keep our controls in place, if we don’t see the people of Northern Ireland actually respecting the guidance and regulations we are asking them to, we could see a further increase of Covid outbreaks, more hospitalisations, more people going into ICU, and unfortunately more deaths”.

Mr Swann said that is something he nor “anyone in Northern Ireland wants to see”.

Meanwhile the chairman of the British Medical Association NI GP Committee has said the recent rise in positive cases in NI is a “wake up call for us all”.

Dr Alan Stout said “the virus hasn’t gone away” and this increase in cases was something that was “anticipated”.

“Once we started to open everything up, people started to interact and go out we always knew there would be small spikes of the virus,” Dr Stout said.

“What this is doing at an early stage with increased numbers is really giving us a warning.”

Dr Stout said it was imperative that people continue to follow all public health guidance.

“Regular hand washing, social-distancing, good respiratory hygiene and the wearing of masks in public settings and indoor settings in particular”.

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