A Belfast hospital is ready to contend with a potential second surge of the coronavirus pandemic, a senior official said.
The Mater Hospital is currently caring for a number of patients as they recover from Covid-19, a process that can take weeks to months.
There have been 4,469 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Northern Ireland so far, with numbers of patients in hospitals now dropping at the end of the first surge.
According to the North’s Department of Health figures on Saturday, there have been 505 deaths of patients with Covid-19.
As lockdown measures begin to be relaxed, Liz McAlea, interim co-director of unscheduled care at the Belfast Trust, said officials are prepared for a second surge if it comes.
“Now that everything has calmed down quite a bit as in numbers wise, we are still in preparedness for a second wave if another surge was to come,” she told the PA news agency.
“Although we have turned some of our wards into non-Covid wards, within the Mater we’re still prepared in case there is a second surge.
“I think we did really well, we had up to 105 patients with Covid-19 within the Mater Hospital, with 16 ventilated, and coped very well.
“Those numbers have gone down but we’re reassured that we’re prepared and the Nightingale is ready to step up again.”