Derry COVID-19 rate rises and district now has fifth lowest rate in the north

Between February 5 and February 11, there were 140 confirmed positive cases of the virus in the district giving a seven day rate per 100,000 of 92.9, a rise from 81 on Thursday.

Derry/Strabane is now recording the fifth lowest coronavirus rate in the north. The lowest rates are in Fermanagh and Omagh (52.2), Ards and North Down (71.5), Lisburn and Castlereagh (74.4) and Causeway Coast and Glens (90.8).

Rates remain higher in Mid Ulster (231.2), Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (205), Belfast (132.8), Newry, Mourne and Down (126.5), Antrim and Newtownabbey (103) and Mid and East Antrim (94.5).

The daily change in the cumulative number of patients with a positive test in Derry and Strabane between February 10 and February 11 was 36.

In total 10,924 people have now tested positive for the illness in Derry and Strabane.

176 COVID related deaths in Derry and Strabane

There have been no reported deaths with COVID-19 in Derry and Strabane this week.

At midnight on Thursday 64 patients were being treated as COVID-19 inpatients across all Western Trust hospitals. This is as low as it has been since October 14 (58).

Yesterday three more people were admitted to Altnagelvin with the illness: two women - one in her fifties and one aged over 80, and a man in his fifties.

Five of twelve (41.67%) ICU beds at Altnagelvin were being used to treat COVID-19 patients; seven (58.33%) were occupied by patients with other conditions and there were no staffed ICU beds free, according to Department of Health figures released this afternoon.

Eight ICU patients in total were being ventilated - five were COVID-19 patients and three were non-COVID-19 patients.

In terms of general occupancy 11.93% of beds at Altnagelvin were ‘COVID-19 occupied’, 81.35% were ‘other occupied’ and the hospital had 5.50% capacity left in the system: 1.22% were ‘awaiting admission.’