Nine new cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed in the North, bringing the total on the island of Ireland to 643.

Northern Ireland’s Department of Health said it has now confirmed 86 cases.

Yesterday, the HSE confirmed 191 new cases, bringing the total in the South to 557.

It was the biggest rise to date and was more than double the 74 confirmed on Wednesday.

Testing of patients in Northern Ireland has resulted in 9 new positive cases for Coronavirus (Covid-19), bringing the total number of cases to 86. #COVID19https://t.co/SO71AtWpMV pic.twitter.com/6MeWnUzsvm

— Department of Health (@healthdpt) March 20, 2020

Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan also confirmed a third COVID-19 patient had died.

On The Pat Kenny Show this morning, the Health Minister Simon Harris said the increase in cases is largely due to a rise in the number of tests carried out.

"We've gone from a situation whereby, until recent days, we were only really testing people who'd come back from certain parts of the world - largely Italy and China - to now many GPs referring people for tests on the basis of symptoms,” he said.

"So, we've gone from a situation of a couple of hundred people a week being tested to a situation where many thousands a day could be tested."

"But the numbers are still a cause for concern."

In the North a total of 1,816 people have been tested for the virus.