Christmas cheers as COVID rate plummets: Derry/Strabane records first major dip in weeks as festive bubbling announced

First Minister Arlene Foster and Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill said temporary ‘bubbling’ arrangements will be put in place for the Christmas period. Up to three households will be allowed to form an exclusive bubble between December 23 and 27.

“Between December 23 and 27, up to three households will be able to form a bubble with one another; indeed some may decide that they will not take advantage of this arrangement, depending on their individual circumstances.

“We hope this early signal will provide some comfort to everyone and we will work with Executive colleagues and our medical advisers in the coming days to provide further clarity,” they said.

The announcement came in a week in which the incidence rate of coronavirus in Derry/Strabane fell again. After two weeks during which no real decline in prevalence was recorded locally, the seven day rate dropped from 223 per 100,000 people to 187.2 between Monday and Tuesday.

Yesterday that level had been maintained. Between November 19 and November 25, there were 282 positive coronavirus cases in Derry and Strabane, giving a seven day rate of 187.2, down from 187.8 on Wednesday. It’s now as low as it has been since September 25 (160.6 per 100,000).

Sadly one person - a man aged between 60 and 79 - who had tested positive for coronavirus died in the community on Monday. His was the only death recorded in Derry/Strabane this week, as the ‘Journal’ went to press yesterday.

Two people were admitted to Altnagelvin with COVID-19 on Wednesday and 70 people were being treated as coronavirus patients in Western Trust hospitals at midnight on the same day. One of the patients admitted to Altnagelvin was aged between 40 and 59 while the other was aged over 80. Seven people were being treated in ICU at Altnagelvin. Four of ten (50%) ICU beds at Altnagelvin were being used to treat COVID-19 patients; three (37.5%) were occupied by patients with other conditions; and one (12.5%) ICU bed was free. Three ICU patients in total were being ventilated - one was a COVID-19 patient and two were non-COVID-19 patients.

A breakdown of general occupancy shows 17.03% of beds at Altnagelvin were ‘COVID-19 occupied’, 78.02% were ‘other occupied’ and the hospital has 2.48% capacity left in the system; 2.48% was listed as ‘awaiting admission’.