COVID-19 death toll rises to 2,036 as 386 battle virus in our hospitals

The latest Department of Health dashboard reveals that another four people died after testing positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

And in the last 24 hours another 187 people tested positive for the deadly virus.

Meanwhile there are now 386 people with COVID-19 in NI hospitals.

And there are now 51 people fighting for their lives with the virus in ICU.

There are now 44 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 in NI Care Homes.

The news comes as hospital admissions in England of patients with Covid-19 are down nearly three-quarters from their second-wave peak, latest figures show.

A total of 1,068 admissions were reported for February 19, NHS England said.

This is a drop of 74% from a peak of 4,134 on January 12.

It is the lowest number of daily admissions since November 28 – a few days before England came out of its second lockdown.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will today announce the first steps for easing England’s third lockdown, which has been in place since January 5.

Hospital admissions are one of a number of factors that will determine the speed of the easing, the Government said.

The others are the continuing success of the vaccine roll-out, the risks posed by new variants of the virus, and the impact of vaccines on reducing hospital admissions and deaths among those who have received a jab.

The scale of the drop in hospital admissions varies across England, PA news agency analysis has found.

In most regions, daily admissions based on a seven-day rolling average are at their lowest since early December.

But in south-west England the average is at its lowest since November 3, while in the combined region of north-east England and Yorkshire it is down to levels last seen on October 20.

Hospital admissions are based on the number of patients admitted in the previous 24 hours who are known to have Covid-19, plus any patients diagnosed in hospital with Covid-19 in previous 24 hours.

Separate figures from NHS England show the number of hospital patients in England with Covid-19 has now fallen 59% from the second-wave peak.

The number stood at 14,142 as of 8am on February 21, down from a record 34,336 on January 18.

When the second lockdown in England ended on December 2, the number of hospital patients stood at 13,212.

During the first wave of the virus, patient numbers peaked at 18,974 on April 12.

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