Six people admitted to Altnagelvin with COVID-19; first week of multiple Derry admissions since April/May

Data released by the Department of Health this afternoon show there were 355 positive coronavirus cases registered in the district between September 21 and 27.

There have now been 819 confirmed cases in Derry and Strabane in total since the pandemic began.

The rolling seven day case rate per 100,000 has now risen to 235.6, more than twice that of Belfast (114.3), and nearly three times the average for the north (80.4).

More cases have been detected in Derry and Strabane in the past week (355) than were detected between the beginning of the pandemic and Tuesday, September 15 (340).

Equally, the number of cases locally has more than doubled from 387 on Friday, September 18, to 819 yesterday - a doubling period of only 11 days.

Over the weekend 166 new cases were registered: 62 on Friday, 84 on Saturday, and 20 on Sunday.

For the first time since April/May multiple people have been admitted to Altnagelvin Hospital in one week having contracted COVID-19.

According to the DoH data six people were admitted to Altnagelvin over the past week. One person aged between 20 and 39 was admitted last Tuesday but was discharged on Saturday.

Another patient aged 60 to 79 was admitted on Wednesday and was discharged the same day.

However, three people - aged 40-59, 60-79 and 80 plus - who were also admitted on Wednesday have not yet been discharged.

A person, aged over 80, who was admitted on Thursday is also still in hospital.

Two further patients who were admitted on Sunday, September 20, and Monday, September 21, respectively and were aged between 60 and 79 and 40 and 59 are still in hospital.

Most of the people who have contracted the illness locally during the ongoing surge have been in the younger age categories but an increasing number of older people have also been testing positive.

Of the confirmed 355 infections since last Monday eight involved patients aged over 80 years of age, while a further 21 involved people aged between 60 and 70.

Most of the cases were among people in the 20 to 39 age demographic with 180 cases in total.

But there were also 92 cases among people aged 40 to 59 and 54 cases among children and teenagers.