608 Covid incidents recorded in Northern Ireland schools

ireland
608 Covid Incidents Recorded In Northern Ireland Schools
Photo: PA Wire/PA Images
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By Rebecca Black, PA

There have been 608 Covid-19 incidents at schools in Northern Ireland, data shows.A total of 519 schools – 373 primaries, 202 post-primaries and 33 special schools – had either a case or a cluster of cases up to October 20.

Half of the 1,000 schools in the region have had at least one Covid-19 case in a pupil or member of staff.

Table: Northern Ireland Public Health Agency via PA

The majority of incidents (302) refer to a single positive case, while 237 had a cluster of two to five cases, and 69 had more than five.

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The numbers were recorded by the Northern Ireland Public Health Agency (PHA).

Schools were closed from March in an effort to stem the spread of the virus and reopened on August 24.

Schools report incidents of the virus to the PHA.

Graphic: Public Health Agency via PA

The highest proportion of incidents (76 per cent) were reported in the Belfast City Council area.

A PHA bulletin reported receiving notification of 2,030 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in schools since August 24.

The data indicates that around 68 per cent were pupils.

Last week Stormont Education Minister Peter Weir told the Assembly that almost 1,500 cases had been identified in the North's schools since they reopened to October 13th.

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Mr Weir said the figure represented a very small proportion of the school population of 333,000 pupils and 19,000 staff.

Schools are closed for an extended half term break as Northern Ireland battles a second spike of cases.

The PHA bulletin also said that by October 18th, there had been 28,197 laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus.

Females (53 per cent) account for marginally more cases than males and the Derry and Strabane council area continues to have the highest case rate at 776 per 100,000 of the population.

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