The R number in Northern Ireland is between 1 and 1.6, the Department of Health has confirmed.
R represents the number of people who, on average, will be infected by a single person with the virus.
It comes as the department confirmed that one person has died from Covid-19 and a further 69 people have tested positive. Read more
Speaking at this afternoon's press briefing at Stormont, Chief Scientific Adviser Professor Ian Young said that at the start of the pandemic in March the R number was at 2.8 and dropped to 1 during lockown.
The department said the average number of new positive cases per day in the past seven days was 56.3.
Professor Young said it there had been an almost 15-fold increase in daily cases since the beginning of the summer while the number of tests being carried out had increaed four fold in that period.
"It is clear the virus is spreading and is everywhere in Northern Ireland,"he added.
Prof Young said while there had been a high number of cases in Mid and East Antrim councl, including an outbreak at a meat processing plant in Cullybackey, he was most worried about Belfast.
At the same briefing Health Minister Robin Swann said he was proposing stronger legislation be brought in to deter licensed premises which are flouting coronavirus guidelines.
'Wet' bars ie: those that do not serve food, have not been permitted to reopen. They had been due to reopen on September 1 but that has been postponed by the Executive.
Read more:
- Worry over coronavirus has decreased with time, survey suggests
- Coronavirus is 'tornado with long tail' and young could infect the vulnerable, WHO warns
The department has warned that the seven day rolling average for new cases has increased, adding that an outbreak at a meat factory in Cullybackey, Co Antrim, was a factor.
The department said the number of people testing positive per 100,000 of the population in the past 14 days was higher than the rate in Britain and the Repubic of Ireland.
"This is likely to be partly explainable by increased testing in the context of the Test/Trace/Protect service. However, there is also likely to be a more widespread increase in community transmission which is a matter of significant concern,". it added.
The department said hospital admissions were increasing "very slowly but are still at a low level in comparison to the first wave when there was a comparable number of cases".
"The view from both the Modelling Group and the Strategic Intelligence Group is that they will inevitably rise if cases continue to do so."
The death toll stands at 560.
Department of Health statistics
- 7 day incidence based on new positive tests - 20.7 / 100k population
- 14 day incidence based on new positive tests - 36.9 / 100k population
- 7 day average of total tests (pillar 1 and 2) which are positive - 1.34%
- First Covid positive hospital admission in last week - 14
- 7 day average number COVID occupied hospital beds - 17.0
Read more:
- Worry over coronavirus has decreased with time, survey suggests
- Coronavirus is 'tornado with long tail' and young could infect the vulnerable, WHO warns
