Health Minister: Around half of NI Covid cases are Kent variant

Concerns are rising amid the emergence of new strains of Covid-19.

It comes as Health Minister Robin Swann revealed the Kent variant of Coronavirus accounts for around 40-60% of new cases in Northern Ireland.

Researchers have been examining recent mutations of the virus and whether or not vaccines need to be tweaked.

Health Minister Robin Swann briefed MLAs about the prevalence of different strains in Northern Ireland on Thursday:

"There's also the risk of increased transmissibility from new variants of the virus which have been identified first in Kent and accounts for between 40 and 60% of the new cases here in Northern Ireland.

"The full impact of that new variant and other new variants will only be seen when measures are relaxed and the R number rises more quickly than we've previously seen."

However, he also praised the public for their efforts to drive transmission rates down.

He told the Health Committee the R number for infection rates has remained below one for a number of weeks now compared to between 1.5 to 1.9 at the start of January.

He said: "Evidence is emerging that "the measures introduced after Christmas have had a positive impact in reducing the numbers of Covid-19 cases and hospital admissions.

"That has undoubtedly saved lives."

But he warned there are signs that R has now "stabilised and stagnated" and that hospital occupancy may begin to fall more slowly.