| |  | | | Michael Cousins | | Acting Managing Editor |
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Good afternoon Welcome to your afternoon update from the News Letter
In Coronavirus news today:
Five further deaths of patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 have been reported in Northern Ireland. The Department of Health said there had also been 1,020 new confirmed cases in the last 24-hour reporting period. On Monday morning there were 379 Covid-19 patients in hospital, with 33 in intensive care. A total of 2,506,669 vaccines have been administered.
Northern Ireland’s deputy First Minister has revealed it took her three weeks to get “back on her feet” after a bout of Covid-19. Michelle O’Neill was speaking at Parliament Buildings as she returned to Stormont following her battle with the virus. “It was quite a frightening experience, it completely floored me, it’s not like anything I have ever experienced before,” she said. “It took me the best part of three weeks to get back on to my feet.”
Health Minister Robin Swann said Northern Ireland is not yet at a point where restrictions related to face coverings and social distancing should be lifted. Ahead of Thursday’s executive meeting, Mr Swann said he would take a “proportionate” approach to lifting any remaining coronavirus measures and would be influenced by transmission rates of the virus and the pressures on hospitals.
In other news:
Adam Kula reports that a charity with dissident republican ties is still under investigation, three years after the probe began. The charity has since changed its name and continues to receive grants whilst the inquiries continue, the News Letter has learned.
A member of the Irish Senate has blamed Michael D Higgins for the controversy which has engulfed an upcoming religious service marking Northern Ireland’s centenary. Mr Higgins, who has held the post of Irish president for the past 10 years, has declined to attend the cross-community event in Armagh at the end of October.
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