Coronavirus Northern Ireland: Six deaths and 4,081 new cases

The Department of Health has confirmed another six deaths linked to coronavirus in Northern Ireland along with 4,081 new cases.

This brings the total number of deaths here since the start of the pandemic to 3,048.

Hospital occupancy across Northern Ireland is currently at 105% capacity, including 412 Covid inpatients.

Over the last seven days a total of 203 Covid patients have been admitted while 308 have been discharged.

A total of 215 care homes are presently dealing with Covid outbreaks although 1,056 outbreaks have concluded on other homes.

Northern Ireland’s vaccine rollout has now seen a total of 3,626,762 jabs administered.

Meanwhile, a petition against the Covid Certification scheme in Northern Ireland has been presented to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

The DUP MLA Paul Frew said it had been backed by 10,000 signatures, who backed it by saying it was right “to record our disgust and abhorrence” to what he called a discriminatory scheme.

Introduced last year, the scheme sees many businesses in the hospitality sector required to ask customers for proof of vaccination, a negative lateral flow test result or result of previous infection for entry.

The petition has been backed by the group Liberty NI, who said that businesses had proven they were trustworthy in stemming the flow of infections before the vaccine passports were introduced.