THE NUMBER OF PSNI officers and staff with Covid-19 fell in the past week, from 652 to 561.

There are around 7,000 PSNI officers, and a further 2,400 staff members.

Last Monday, 2 November, the PSNI said it would provide an organisation-wide figure for the numbers of officers and staff who are self-isolating, alongside the weekly Covid-related statistics on fines and notices issued by officers.

This comes after eight PSNI officers in Antrim tested positive for Covid-19 and two stations were closed for deep cleaning. On Saturday, the PSNI’s police college, Garnerville, was closed for deep cleaning after four student officers tested positive for Covid-19.

Last week there were 652 officers or staff absent because of Covid-19, 570 of which are self-isolating. This week there are currently 561 officers or staff ‘Covid-19 absent’, 477 of which are self-isolating.

The PSNI said that from March, it had issued these fines to members of the public:

• 1,159 Community Resolution Notices
• 1,983 COV1: Penalty notices (issued to over 18s only)
• 500 COV2: (86 commercial, 414 private.) Prohibition notices issued to licensed premises or for restriction of gatherings in a private dwelling
• 48 COV3: Failure to isolate, which carries a £1,000 fine.

In total, this amounts to 3,690 fines.

Earlier today, ten deaths and 471 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Northern Ireland, bringing the totals there to 791 deaths and 43,388 cases.

Meanwhile, a meeting of the Stormont Executive has reconvened to consider the relaxation of coronavirus restrictions in Northern Ireland, as a four-week circuit breaker is due to end on Thursday.

There was one further death and 270 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland, bringing the total to 1,948 deaths and 65,659 cases.