Vaccine rollout in N Ireland set for delay after AstraZeneca advice change

Good afternoon
Three further Covid-19 deaths occurred in Northern Ireland in the latest week subjected to analysis by statisticians. The fatalities that occurred in the week April 24-30 took the total number of coronavirus-related deaths recorded by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) to 2,958.
Sadly there has been one further death of a patient who had previously tested positive for Covid-19 in Northern Ireland. The Department of Health said there had also been an additional 65 cases of the virus confirmed in the last 24-hour reporting period. On Friday morning, there were 62 Covid-19 positive inpatients in hospital, of whom six were in intensive care.
Meanwhile Northern Ireland’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout is set to be delayed by several weeks due to changed advice on using AstraZeneca jabs. Patricia Donnelly outlined the consequences of the new advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) that people under 40 should be offered an alternative to AstraZeneca due to a link to rare blood clots.
The world’s largest cargo plane landed at Belfast International Airport on Thursday evening to collect three 18-tonne generators, which will help in the battle against India’s escalating Covid-19 crisis. The oxygen generation units are each able to produce 500 litres of oxygen per minute, enough to treat 50 people at a time on ventilators. View our picture special on this story here.
Have a good weekend
Michael Cousins

Deputy digital editor
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