Coronavirus: Five deaths, 2,304 infections announced on Friday (updated)

The health ministry on Friday announced five deaths attributed to Covid-19 and 2,304 infections, while 170 people were hospitalised with the virus.

The five deaths were: three women aged 51, 79 and 87 and two men aged 72 and 92.

As of Friday night there are 170 patients hospitalised with Covid-19 of whom 41 are in serious condition. Of the 41, there are 13 who are intubated. The ministry said that of those in hospital overall, 68.24 per cent are unvaccinated.

There are also 28 post-Covid-19 (no longer infectious) patients receiving treatment.

The infections were identified following 110,891 tests, yielding a positivity rate of 2.08 per cent.

Friday’s tests consisted of 6,938 PCR tests, which identified 334 positives at a rate of 4.81 per cent, and 103,953 rapid tests, which uncovered 1,970 positives at a rate of 1.9 per cent.

Contact tracing identified 53 positives from 620 tests, a rate of 8.55 per cent.

Primary schools saw 11,563 tests and 67 positives, a rate of 0.58 per cent.

There were 114 positives at care homes, following 20,401 tests.