Daily Covid-19 updates to end as frequency of virus data changes

Credit: Niall Carson/PA Images Date: May 2020 Clinical sister Joan Wilson (left) in a Covid-19 recovery ward at Craigavon Area Hospital in Co Armagh, Northern Ireland.
Daily updates from the Department of Health are to end. Credit: PA

Daily updates on the latest Covid-19 statistics, including the number of deaths and new cases, are to end.

The Department of Health says the service will end on Friday.

A digital dashboard has been in operation since the start of the pandemic, providing daily hospital admissions, ICU occupancy as well as the number of people who have died within the 24-hour reporting period.

In March, Health Minister Robin Swann announced changes to the Test, Trace and Protect Strategy.

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That was to involve a more proportionate and targeted approach to test and trace, says the Department.

It added that changes to testing policy and behaviour mean daily totals of reported Covid-19 cases no longer provide a comprehensive indication of prevalence in the community.

The Department will continue to publish on a weekly basis Covid-19 infection survey positivity estimates. These provide a more reliable indicator of prevalence than reported positive cases.

Data for Covid-19 admissions and inpatients will be published on a weekly basis.