WATCH: Differences between Covid and flu are 'night and day', says top doctor
Last updated 26th Feb 2021
The differences between Covid and Influenza are like 'night and day'.
That's according to Consultant chest physician Shane Moan, who's been working on the frontline during the pandemic.
Dr Moan spoke to Downtown & Cool FM to mark the one year anniversary of Covid arriving in Northern Ireland.
The first case of Covid-19 was announced on the 27th February 2020, since then, hospitals and staff have been battling the virus.
Some of those who doubt Covid and how serious it is have compared it to the flu.
However, Dr Moan told us that couldn't be farther from the truth -
The HSC began testing for COVID-19 during February 2020, as of 19 February there were 35 completed tests all of which returned negative results.
On 27 February, the HSC confirmed that the first presumptive case had been discovered in Northern Ireland in a woman who had returned from Italy, the case was sent to the Public Health England reference laboratory where it was confirmed as Northern Ireland's first case on 29 February.
Cases continued to rise throughout early March with cases rising to seven by the end of the first week.
According to the Department of Health, 2,048 people have died after testing positive for coronavirus. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency reports 2,691 people have died.
NISRA say the vast majority of deaths linked to COVID-19 were among individuals over the age of 75 years old and almost half were in nursing care homes.