Armagh, Banbridge, Craigavon and Mid Ulster areas suffered highest proportion of Covid-19 related deaths since pandemic began

Two years since NI went into Lockdown, the latest figures, published by the NI Statistics and Research Agency, reveal the two council areas had a higher proportion of Covid-19 related deaths than anywhere else in NI.

Over the period of the pandemic, the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon had 12.5% of Covid-19 deaths while Mid-Ulster had 8.2%.

This is compared with their share of all deaths in NI (10.4% and 6.7% respectively). Conversely, Ards & North Down and Fermanagh & Omagh both have relatively low shares of registered Covid-19 related deaths (2.0 and 2.1 percentage points lower than their respective share of all deaths).

People aged 75 and over accounted for 73.6% of the 4,391 Covid‑19 related deaths registered between 19 March 2020 and 18 March 2022.

The latest figures published on Friday (March 25) show that 25 deaths involving Covid-19 occurred in Week 11 ending 18 March 2022.

In the two years since the first covid-19 related death took place, the total number of Covid-19 related deaths that occurred up to 18 March 2022 has now reached 4,403.

Of these, 3,057 (69.4%) took place in hospital, 948 (21.5%) in care homes and 398 (9.0%) at residential addresses, hospices or other locations.

The comparative number of deaths reported daily by the Department of Health (DoH) to 18 March 2022 was 3,273. The DoH count is based on patients having previously tested positive for the virus, whereas the NISRA figures are based on the information entered on death certificates completed by medical professionals. They may or may not have previously tested positive for the virus and therefore include both confirmed and suspected cases, and where Covid-19 was either a contributor to or the main cause of death.

Further analysis, which includes deaths of care home residents by place of death, shows that there was a total of 1,242 deaths of care home residents involving Covid-19 (including deaths that took place in a hospice, hospital, care home or elsewhere) occurring between 18 March 2020 and 18 March 2022. This accounts for 28.2% of all Covid-19 related deaths. However, no assumptions can be made in relation to where the deceased contracted the disease.

Separate analysis, based on the date of death registration, shows that the provisional number of total deaths from all causes registered in Northern Ireland in the week ending 18 March 2022 (week 11, 2022) was 301, thirty-seven less than in week 10 of 2022 and twenty-two more than the 5-year average (2017-2021) of 279.

Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate of 25 (8.3%) of the 301 deaths registered in week 11, seven fewer than the previous week (32).

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Read this UTV archive footage of people in Lurgan dated 1965 on what the new city should be named