NORTHERN IRELAND HAS recorded an additional 419 positive cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases to 55,047.

Eleven more people in the North have now died with Covid-19 according to the latest update from the Department of Health this afternoon.

In total, there have been 1,050 Covid-19 deaths in Northern Ireland since the first outbreak of the virus.

Yesterday, seven deaths and 451 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed in Northern Ireland.

Belfast reported the highest number of cases in today’s figure with 71 new cases.

Households in Northern Ireland will be allowed to form a “Christmas bubble” between 23 and 27 December under temorar arrangements for the Chirstmas period.

“This can be composed of up to three households and one of the three households can include an existing bubble arrangement,” the official guidance in Northern Ireland says.

“The households in your bubble cannot be part of other Christmas bubbles during the 5 day period you cannot change your bubble mid-way through – once you are in a Christmas bubble you can’t start another with a different household,” the guidance says. 

The first vaccinations in Northern Ireland are set to take place in the coming week following the arrival of 25,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine into the North.