Two deaths from Covid-19 and 166 new positive cases were announced on Monday out of 66,954 PCR and rapid tests.

The deaths were two men, aged 56 and 75.

There are 57 people in hospital with the virus, 23 of whom are in serious condition. Sixty per cent are unvaccinated.

Of the 66,954 tests carried out on Monday there were 5,934 PCR tests and 61,020 rapid tests.

PCR tests picked up the following positives: 25 from 403 contact tracing tests, eight from 3,378 airport tests, 16 from 1,382 taken privately and four from 272 hospital tests.

Rapid tests taken privately – typically the unvaccinated as they are not eligible for the government’s free screening programme – accounted for 39,335 and identified 82 positives.

The government’s 21,685 tests – for select groups – picked up 31 positives.

No one tested positive from the government’s testing programme at either nursing homes or in primary schools while just six tested positive at secondary schools.

The north announced 65 new positives from 21,615 tests, raising the total number of recorded infections in the north to 21,083.