Coronavirus: More than 100,000 have contracted virus in North

The number of people who have contracted Covid-19 in Northern Ireland has now passed the 100,000 mark, the latest figures from the North's Department of Health disclose.

The department reported 12 coronavirus deaths on Saturday and 14 deaths on Sunday taking its total since the outbreak of the pandemic to 1,730.

There were 670 new confirmed cases of coronavirus on Saturday and 433 cases on Sunday bringing the total number of cases in the North to 100,319.

With a population of 1.8 million this roughly means that one in eighteen people in Northern Ireland have contracted Covid-19.

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Hospital bed occupancy in the North now is at 88 per cent. There are 796 people receiving Covid-19 treatment in Northern Ireland hospitals with 74 in intensive care and 54 on ventilators.

Meanwhile, the Sinn Féin health spokesman and Assembly member Colm Gildernew called on the North’s health Minister Robin Swann to put in place practical and psychological support for health workers.

Mr Gildernew said he understood that psychological support available to health workers at the start of the pandemic had been reduced.

This, he said, was at a time when they need that “psychological support most, as ICU attendances are surging”.

“Our health workers are now in the midst of the greatest pressures they have faced since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic,” Mr Gildernew said on Sunday.

“They are exhausted and traumatised but they continue to persevere to protect the public from the virus and keep the HSC from collapse. They must be properly supported to do this, now,” he added.