Three Covid deaths and 770 new cases reported in Northern Ireland

There have been over 5,000 new cases of the virus reported in Northern Ireland in the last week

Three people have died in Northern Ireland after contracting Covid-19 according to the Department of Health.

It means that 20 people have died after contracting the virus in the last week in NI.

A total of 3,372 people have died of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic in Northern Ireland.

There were 770 new cases reported on Tuesday, with 5,530 new cases reported in the last seven days.

The total number of reported cases in the province from March 2020 now stands at 698,978.

Hospitals currently have 466 Covid positive inpatients, and have admitted 172 such people in the past week.

Four people are in intensive care with the illness, and there are 22 ICU beds available.

Hospital capacity is at 106% with 10 out of 12 hospitals over capacity.

The department also announced that there are 129 confirmed outbreaks of the virus in care homes.