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Coronavirus: Northern Ireland reports zero COVID-19 deaths for first time in two months

There have been no daily deaths from COVID-19 reported in Northern Ireland for the first time in two months.

The country’s Department of Health said there had been zero coronavirus fatalities in the past 24 hours.

It is the first day since 18 March that no deaths have been reported in Northern Ireland.

The total number of deaths in the country remains at 514. There were 28 more confirmed cases of the virus, bringing the overall total cases to 4,637.

Northern Ireland has followed its neighbour in reporting zero daily deaths for the first time.

Belfast's oldest Catholic Church, St Mary's in Chapel Lane, reopens after the Northern Ireland Executive announced last week that places of worship would allowed to open for solitary prayer. In preparation St Mary's have placed signs to create a one-way system, installed hand sanitizer gel at the entrance, and limited the amount of pews open for parishioners to maintain a 2m distance.
Belfast's oldest Catholic Church, St Mary's in Chapel Lane, reopened on Monday. (PA)

On Monday, the Republic of Ireland announced it had reported no deaths over the previous 24 hours, leaving it with 1,606 COVID-19-related deaths and 24,698 confirmed cases.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, NHS England announced 116 new deaths of people who tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed reported deaths in hospitals in England to 25,866.

Of the 116 new deaths, 23 occurred on 25 May, 40 on 24 May and 25 on 23 May.

The figures also show 23 of the new deaths took place between 3 May 3 and 22 May, while the remaining five took place in April with the earliest on 8 April.

Public Health Wales said a further eight people have died after testing positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of deaths in Wales to 1,282.

Another 141 people have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 13,556.

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The Department for Health said 37,048 people had died in hospitals, care homes and the wider community after testing positive for coronavirus in the UK as of 5pm on Monday, up by 134 from 36,914 the day before.

In the 24-hour period up to 9am on Tuesday, 109,979 tests were carried out or dispatched, with 2,004 positive results.

The figure for the number of people tested in the same period was unavailable for the fourth day in a row because of "technical difficulties".

Overall, a total of 3,681,295 tests have been carried out and 265,227 cases have been confirmed positive.

Northern Ireland has taken its initial steps out of lockdown, with the reopening of garden centres, churches for private prayer and golf courses.

However, many businesses will not be permitted to reopen until later in the year.

The Executive at Stormont has published a five-stage plan for recovery, but this does not give exact dates.

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