THERE HAVE BEEN 877 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Northern Ireland in the past 24 hours, its Department of Health has said.

Three further deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 591.

Out of a total of 98 ICU beds, 22 of them are occupied with Covid-19 patients. In all, 144 people are in hospitals in Northern Ireland and have Covid-19.

The latest case numbers come amid a worsening situation with the virus across the six counties, particularly in the Derry-Strabane region. In the last seven days in this area, there have been 971 cases per 100,000 population – the highest on the island of Ireland.

During the weekend, there were almost 2,000 cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Northern Ireland. On Friday, a record-breaking 1,080 cases were confirmed.

Reports emerged this morning that the North’s chief medical officer Dr Michael McBride had suggested a six-week lockdown to try to reverse the current trends.

DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson was critical of such a measure, and said Dr McBride needed to produce the data that justified the imposition of a six-week lockdown.

Northern Ireland’s Health Minister Robin Swann has confirmed that a paper setting out CMO Dr McBride and chief scientific adviser Professor Ian Young’s advice on further restrictions had been presented to the First and Deputy First Ministers last night.

“I can confirm that I submitted a paper yesterday evening to the First Minister and Deputy First Minister spelling out the detailed advice from the chief medical officer and the chief scientific adviser,” Swann told the Assembly.

“That paper recommends decisive action be urgently taken to save lives, prevent the health service being overwhelmed and protect non-Covid services to the greatest extent possible.”

Earlier today, data released by the PSNI showed that 36 people had been given a £1,000 fine for failing to isolate since the beginning of the pandemic.

A further 1,321 penalty notices related to Covid-19 have also been issued to over-18s, while 73 commercial and 206 private prohibition notices were issued to restrict gatherings that exceed the limits.