50 more people die from Covid

FIFTY more people in the North lost their live to Covid-19 in the week from October 23-29.

The latest figures were confirmed today by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA)

The total number of Covid-19 related deaths that occurred up to October 29, 2021 has now reached 3,666. Of these, 2,512 (68.5 per-cent) took place in hospital, 852 (23.2 per-cent) in care homes, 14 (0.4 per-cent) in hospices and 288 (7.9 per-cent) at residential addresses or other locations.

The comparative number of deaths reported daily by the Department of Health (DoH) to October 29, 2021 was 2,697. The DoH count is based on patients having previously tested positive for the virus, whereas the NISRA figures are based on the information entered on death certificates completed by medical professionals. They may or may not have previously tested positive for the virus and therefore include both confirmed and suspected cases, and where Covid-19 was either a contributor to or the main cause of death.

Further analysis, which includes deaths of care home residents by place of death, shows that there was a total of 1,123 deaths of care home residents involving Covid-19 (including deaths that took place somewhere other than the care home) occurring between March 18, 2020 and October 29, 2021. This accounts for 30.6 per-cent of all Covid-19 related deaths.

Separate analysis, based on the date of death registration, shows that the provisional number of total deaths from all causes registered in Northern Ireland in the week ending October 29, 2021 (week 43, 2021) was 320, seven more than in week 42 and 18 more than the five-year average (2016-2020) of 302.

Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate of 50 (15.6 per-cent) of the 320 deaths registered in week 43, a decrease of two from the previous week. The total number of Covid-19 related deaths registered to October, 29 2021 has now reached 3,641.

People aged 75 and over accounted for 74.2 per-cent of the 3,641 Covid‑19 related deaths registered between March 19, 2020 and October 29, 2021.

Over the period of the pandemic, Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon and Mid-Ulster Local Government Districts have had higher proportions of Covid-19 related deaths (12.4 per-cent and 8.2 per-cent respectively) compared with their share of all deaths in Northern Ireland (10.4 per-cent and 6.6 per-cent  respectively). Conversely, Ards and North Down and Fermanagh and Omagh both have relatively low shares of registered Covid-19 related deaths (2.5 and 2.1 percentage points lower respectively than their share of all deaths).