Northern Ireland

Coronavirus: Death toll rises to 523 after one further fatality

The coronavirus death toll in the north has risen to 523, according to the Department of Health
The coronavirus death toll in the north has risen to 523, according to the Department of Health

One more person has died from coronavirus in Northern Ireland, bringing the overall death toll to 523.

The death was announced as part of the Department of Health's daily update.

An extra seven positive cases brought the mainly hospital-related number of cases to 4,716.

The department's figures generally refer to deaths and cases in hospital.

A second set of statistics, published by the Northern Ireland Research and Statistics Agency (Nisra) on Friday, recorded 716 deaths up to Friday May 22.

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NHS England has announced 85 new deaths of people who tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 26,614.

Of the 85 new deaths announced today:

- 15 occurred on May 30

- 31 occurred on May 29

- seven occurred on May 28

The figures also show 22 of the new deaths took place between May 8 and May 27, nine occurred in April, and the remaining one death took place on March 25.

NHS England releases updated figures each day showing the dates of every coronavirus-related death in hospitals in England, often including previously uncounted deaths that took place several days or even weeks ago. This is because of the time it takes for deaths to be confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19, for post-mortem examinations to be processed and for data from the tests to be validated.

The figures published today by NHS England show April 8 continues to have the highest number for the most hospital deaths on a single day, with a current total of 894.

Coronavirus graffiti in Belfast. Picture by Mal McCann
Coronavirus graffiti in Belfast. Picture by Mal McCann

Public Health Wales said a further 11 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of deaths in Wales to 1,342.

Another 82 people have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 13,995.