THERE HAVE BEEN 913 new cases of Covid-19 confirmed in Northern Ireland in the past 24 hours.

In an update this afternoon, the NI Department of Health said that a further three people have died, bringing the death toll to 624.

The latest figures come just a few days into new restrictions in the six counties, which see schools, bars and restaurants closed.

Yesterday, Arlene Foster urged Stormont Executive ministers to support each other on decisions around coronavirus restrictions.

The First Minister’s plea came amid the ongoing political fall-out over comments by her ministerial and party colleague Edwin Poots when he criticised the latest Covid-19 measures.

Further remarks by Poots in which he claimed coronavirus was more rife in nationalist areas than unionist areas have served to deepen the controversy.

Senior Sinn Fein member John O’Dowd branded those remarks an “absolute disgrace” and called on Poots to apologise.

In a video posted to Facebook, Foster acknowledged the DUP would have opted for different restrictions if it was making the decision on its own, but she highlighted the Executive made decisions on a coalition basis.

“We are in a five-party Executive and, by its very nature, any decision is going to have to be a compromise,” she said.

“And I think it’s fair to say that, left to the DUP on our own, it would have been a different decision that we would have came forward with.

However, it is important to say that everyone in the Executive recognises that there was a need to take some action to deal with the increase in transmission.

And I’ve always spoken about the balance needed and about the fact that we need to take proportionate decisions. I’m going to continue to seek proportionate decisions and seek balance as we move forward.

“And let us support each other as we do take these decisions.

“I think it’s important at this challenging time that we do that.”

With reporting from PA