Michael Cousins Acting Managing Editor

Good afternoon

Welcome to your Coronavirus and general news update from the team at the News Letter

In the news this afternoon:

The latest figures from the Department of Health show that there have been another ten COVID-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland. There are now 36 people fighting the virus in ICU in NI - and a total of 326 patients with COVID-19 in our hospitals.

There has been reaction to the setting alight of a bus in Newtownards this morning. Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson tweeted: “This is disappointing & not what anyone wants to see. Thoughts with the driver.' The incident has been widely linked to the NI protocol.

The head of the Church of Ireland believes Irish President Michael D Higgins would have “enriched” the NI Centenary service in Armagh last month, but added that it “wasn’t fatal” that some invited guests did not attend. Speaking to The Saint Patrick Podcast, Archbishop John McDowell said he was “ambivalent” to events like the centenary because “everything didn’t go well” over the past 100 years in Northern Ireland.

Patients have been asked not to attend Emergency units ‘unless it is life-threatening’. In a Tweet the Northern trust say: “Occupancy in Antrim Area Hosp is 111% with 56 very ill patients awaiting a bed in the hospital. “Causeway Hospital occupancy is 107% with 16 ill patients awaiting admission. “Please don’t attend unless it’s an emergency.

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