1,516 COVID-19 cases puts Derry second behind Belfast

The district has now had more cases than Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon (1,505) with only Belfast (3,445) recording a higher tally since the start of the emergency,

Over the past seven days there have been 731 cases in Derry and Strabane with the number of cases per 100,000 people now up to 485.2

There have been more cases in the past week than were recorded between the beginning of the health crisis and last Saturday, September 26 by which time 700 people had tested positive.

The number of registered cases rose from 756 last Sunday, September 27, to 1,516 yesterday, more than doubling in the space of a week.

The highest proportion of cases between September 27 and October 3 locally were among people aged between 20 and 39 (327) and between 40 and 59 (202).

Children and teenagers accounted for 125 cases.

Seventy seven people over aged over 59 contracted the illness over the past week: 69 of those were aged between 60 and 79 while eight were aged over 80.

There have been no deaths from COVID-19 locally since July.