Covid numbers in Derry drop again but go up in neighbouring Causeway Coast & Glens area

Covid numbers in Derry continue to fall as the area once again posted the lowest rate in the North.

Figures from the Department of Health show the council area of Derry City & Strabane District Council as have a rate of 788 cases per 100,000 people compared to last week's figure of 817.

Causeway Coast & Glens still have the second-lowest rate but they had a slight increase as they went from last week's 827 cases per 100,000 to a figure of 869.

Third-lowest was Fermanagh & Omagh who dropped from 991 to 891 while Mid Ulster's rate fell from 1372 to 1143.

The highest rate in the North was Lisburn & Castlereagh – despite cases dropping from 1902 cases per 100,000 people to 1653.

The North's overall Covid rate was 1274 cases per 100,000 – a drop from last week's figure of 1493.

Postcode rates for Derry saw BT48 post figures of 678.8 cases per 100,000 people compared to 753.1 seven days ago.

BT47 however, saw an increase in Covid rates as last week's total of 755 saw a rise this week to 806.5 cases per 100,000 people.

While Altnagelvin Hospital had no ICU Covid patients last week, this week's Department of Health figures showed 20 per cent of ICU beds were occupied by Covid patients. Sixty per cent of ICU beds had non-Covid patients with the remaining 20 per cent unoccupied.

In terms of overall hospital bed occupancy at Altnagelvin, 6.48 per cent of beds were occupied by Covid patients, 84.51 per cent of beds had non-Covid patients, 9.01 per cent of patients were awaiting admission while the hospital itself was running at 5.35 per cent over-capacity – an increase from last week's percentage of 1.13.